THE  NATION'S  TRIAL: 


THE  PROCLAMATION: 


DORMANT  POWERS  OF  THE  GOVERNMENT: 


1  j 


THE  CONSTITUTION  A  CHARTER  OF  FREEDOM,  AND 
NOT  "A  COVENANT  WITH  HELL:" 


DEATH  TO  SLAVERY— LIFE  TO  THE  REPUBLIC. 


BY  EDWARD  F.  BULLARD, 

AUTHOR   OP   THE   LAW    OF   TRUSTS   AND    TRUSTEES. 


NEW  YORK: 

C.  B.  RICHARDSON,  HISTORICAL  BOOKSELLER  AND  PUBLISHER, 
594  and  596  Broadway. 

ALBANY: 

W.  C.  LITTLE,  LAW  PUBLISHER. 
1863. 


University  of  California  •  Berkeley 


THE  NATION'S  TRIAL: 


THE  PROCLAMATION : 


DORMANT  POWERS  OF  THE  GOVERNMENT : 


THE  CONSTITUTION  A  CHARTER  OF  FREEDOM,  AND 
NOT  "A  COVENANT  WITH  HELL:" 


BY  EDWARD  F.  BULLARD, 

AUTHOR   OF   THE   LAW   OF   TRUSTS   AND    TRUSTEES. 


DEATH   TO    SLAVERY— LIFE   TO    THE   REPUBLIC. 


NEW  YORK  : 

C.  B.  RICHARDSON,  HISTORICAL  BOOKSELLER   AND  PUBLISHER, 
694  &  596  Broadway. 

ALBANY : 

W.  C.   LITTLE,  LAW  PUBLISHER. 
1863. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  eighteen  hundred  and  sixty-three, 

BY  EDWARD  F.  BULLARD, 
In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  Northern  District  of  New  York. 


•-, 


TO  THE  CONSCIENTIOUS  AND   THINKING  PUBLIC 

THIS  WORK 

IS  RESPECTFULLY  DEDICATED 
BY  THE  AUTHOR. 


PREFACE. 

THE  substance  of  the  following  Treatise  was  delivered 
as  a  lecture,  first  before  the  Young  Men's  Association  of 
Waterford,  February  18,  1863,  and  afterwards  repeated  at 
other  places. 

At  the  request  of  many  members  of  the  Bar,  and  others, 
it  is  published,  after  having  been  somewhat  enlarged. 

This  work  is  published  to  awaken  inquiry,  as  the  present 
crisis  seemed  to  demand  a  brief  work  upon  the  duties  of 
the  hour. 

WATERFORD,  N.  Y.,  rfpril,  1863. 


CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  I. — Freedom  and  Moral  Ideas,  the  Measure  of  Man's  Progress 7 

II.— Our  Defiance  of  God  and  his  Justice 11 

III. — The  Constitution  no  Cloak  for  Slavery :    Recognizing  Slavery  de 

facto  does  not  Legalize  or  Guarantee  it 16 

IV. — The  Union  represents  the  only  Sovereign  Power 23 

V.— Slavery  is  War 30 

VI.— The  Proclamation  the  Great  Event  of  the  last  1800  Years 33 

VII. — The  Nation,  through  Congress,  must  settle  this  Question 37 

VIII.— A  State  cannot  Legally  make  a  Slave 40 

IX. — The  National  Government  bound  to  Protect  every  Person  within  its 

Boundaries 45 

X. — A  Republican  Government,  as  guaranteed  by  the  Constitution. ...  49 
XI. — Rules  of  Construction.     The  Declaration  of  Independence  Estops 

the  Nation  from  Continuing  Slavery 56 

XII.— The  Present  Age  calls  to  a  Higher  Duty 59 


CHAPTER  I. 

FREEDOM  AND  MOKAL  IDEAS,  THE  MEASURE  OF  MAN'S 
PROGRESS. 

WAR,  with  all  its  horrors,  is  trying  this  nation  in  the  presence  of 
the  God  of  Justice. 

When,  in  the  course  of  events,  a  people  apparently  prosperous  and 
happy,  by  domestic  convulsions  is  deluging  the  country  with  blood, 
it  becomes  us  to  ascertain  the  cause  and  apply  the  remedy. 

Progress  is  the  law  of  the  universe. 

Science  has  demonstrated  that  animal  life  has  existed  on  this 
planet  for  a  thousand  centuries,  yet  man  has  left  recorded  history 
reaching  back  less  than  six  thousand  years. 

Although,  in  the  beginning  man  was  created  after  the  image  of 

God — that  is,  with  a  capacity  to  learn  and  exist  forever — yet  man 

remains  but  a  poor  representation  of  the  God-head  until  his  intellect 

has  been  cultivated  and  his   affection  born  anew,  so   that  he  shall 

•  perceive  truth  and  love  the  right.  :» 

In  tracing  the  development  of  the  human  race,  each  individual 
must  be  treated  as  a  trinity,  that  is :  First,  as  a  physical;  second, 
as  an  intellectual ;  third,  as  a  moral  being. 

Until  each  of  these  attributes  is  developed,  man  is  not  truly  seen 
in  the  image  of  his  Creator. 

Hence  triumphs  of  art,  which  may  call  out  and  expand  the  physi- 
cal and  intellectual,  do  not  necessarily  develop  the  moral.  In  the 
former,  Thebes  and  Ninevah  excelled,  yet  they  have  perished  and 
left  nothing  as  an  example  to  make  us  better,  unless  we  take  warn- 
ing from  their  shortcomings. 

If  the  end  of  man's  existence  was  merely  to  build  stately  works 
of  art,  wear  purple  and  fine  linen,  with  no  reference  to  an  eternal 
destiny,  then,  indeed,  was  Egypt  a  great  people  before  the  book  of 
Genesis  was  written,  and  our  own  America,  two  years  since,  had 
nearly  become  her  equal. 


8 

But  such  was  not  the  design  of  the  great  Father  in  creating  man. 
He  made  him  for  a  higher  and  nobler  purpose, — to'be  educated,  to 
exist  and  unfold  forever. 

Progress  is  an  inherent  law  of  the  soul,  and  is  written  upon  all 
created  'things.  To  avoid  misunderstanding  we  use  the  term  man  as 
including  all  beings,  without  regard  to  color,  that  have  souls  within 
them,  susceptible  of  improvement  and  capable  of  a  future  existence. 
Few,  among  the  enlightened,  can  be  found  so  ignorant  or  perverted 
by  education  as  to  deny  to  the  African  either  of  these  qualities,  or 
that  he  is  capable  of  becoming  "  God's  noblest  work,  an  honest 
man." 

The  greatest  benefactor  to  mankind,  therefore,  is  he  who  serves 
God  by  improving  the  condition  of  his  children. 

Moral  ideas  are  greater  than  works  of  art. 

All  ideas  are  promulgated  to  the  world  as  mere  words  uttered  or 
recorded. 

The  building  of  its  cities  has  not  done  so  much  to  advance  the 
world  as  Paul's  sermon  on  Mars  Hill. 

No  one  is  so  obscure  as  to  be  without  his  influence  in  raising  or 
degrading  the  moral  condition  of  his  neighbor.  Yet  but  few  have 
become  so  high  and  pure  as  to  leave  their  good  works  apparent  to  the 
whole  world. 

The  mere  words  of  those  few  have  become  the  property  of  man- 
kind, and  they  illuminate  his  pathjvay  in  the  conflict  between  truth 
and  error,  right  and  wrong,  as  the    sun  illuminates  the  material' 
universe. 

But  few  persons,  having  the  opportunity  even,  have  so  lived  as  to 
exhibit  their  characters  so  perfected  and  elevated  as  to  become  the 
light  of  the  world. 

But  few  events  have  become  the  great  monuments  which  are 
known  and  read  of  all  men. 

The  first  of  these  was  the  life  of  Moses,  who  was  born  but  3,434 
years  since. 

He  astonished  the  world  by  the  high  moral  standard  which  he 
raised,  but  did  not  live  to  see  many  of  his  own  followers  appreciate 
the  scope  of  his  teachings. 

Where  is  the  man  who  will  now  assert  that  his  mere  words  or 
fanatacism  have  not  been  of  more  benefit  to  mankind  than  all  the 
pyramids  ever  devised  by  the  intellect  or  reared  by  the  hand  of 
man  ? 


9 

The  next  of  those  events,  which  all  civilized  nations  recognize,  is 
the  life  and  teachings  of  the  humble  Nazarene. 

But  little  understood  by  the  wisest  of  our  day  and  generation, 
when  on  earth  less  than  nineteen  hundred  years  since,  the  wise  men 
and  rulers  of  that  day  heeded  him  not.  Yet  the  mere  IDEAS  uttered 
by  him  have  done  more  than  all  the  armies,  powers  and  inventions 
of  the  race  to  elevate  mankind.  In  comparison  with  them,  the  con- 
quests of  Alexander  and  Caesar  are  as  grains  of  sand. 

With  all  the  light  shed  upon  the  world  by  him,  but  little,  if  any, 
progress  was  made  by  the  masses  for  the  first  fifteen  hundred  years 
after  they  had  crucified  his  body. 

During  that  period,  however,  millions  nominally  professed  his  doc- 
trines, and  most  of  the  nations  of  Europe  claimed  to  rule  in  his 
name. 

Eleven  hundred  years  after  the  sermon  on  the  mount,  "  the  Eng- 
lish were  generally  in  the  habit  of  selling  their  children  and  other 
relations  to  be  slaves  in  Ireland,  without  having  the  pretext  of  dis- 
tress or  famine,  till  the"  Irish,  in  a  national  synod,  agreed  to  eman- 
cipate ail  the  English  slaves  in  the  Kingdom."  (3  Haltam,  Middle 
Ages,  371.) 

In  the  year  1214,  a  few  of  the  higher  intellects  of  England  wrung 
from  King  John,  Magna  Charta,  whereon  by  degrees  that  nation 
has  finally  reared  a  high  development  of  civilization. 

Before  they  practically  carried  into  effect,  to  any  considerable 
extent,  the  principles  announced  by  that  great  charter,  that  nation 
had  to  wade  through  turmoil  and  blood,  for  five  centuries. 

Long  after  its  promulgation,  tyranny  and  despotism  continued  hunt- 
ing out  victims  for  the  stake  and  the  rack,  until  the  better  portion 
of  humanity  looked  in  vain  for  an  asylum  upon  the  known  globe. 

In  this  dark  hour,  October  11,  1492,  another  great  event  startled 
mankind.  On  that  day  Columbus  discovered  the  new  world. 

In  his  wisdom  the  Creator  has  seemingly  reserved  this  continent 
to  be  the  garden  of  his  New  Jerusalem  and  the  school  house  of 
his  people. 

When  the  old  world  had  become  so  corrupt  and  down- trodden, 
that  practically,  Christianity  had  no  place  to  lay  its  head,  the 
Almighty  inspired  the  great  soul  of  Columbus  to  seek  out  this  new 
continent  as  an  asylum  for  the  oppressed. 

The  spirit  of  tyranny  after  this  time  continued  to  run  so  high  that 
the  friends  of  man  were  crucified  or  banished  to  this  continent. 


10 

Freedom  of  thought  or  religious  toleration  was  not  permitted  ID 
the  old  world. 

Experience  has  shown  that  no  people  will  become  developed  to  a 
full  manhood  where  freedom  of  speech  is  not  tolerated. 

Although  Jesus  had  distinctly  taught  the  equality  of  all  men,  and 
the  divine  right  of  the  indvidual  to  freedom,  yet  up  to  that  age  his 
doctrine  had  been  practically  ignored.  The  state  and  church  were 
everything — man  was  nothing. 

It  was  after  this  and  on  the  10th  of  December,  1520,  that  Luther 
asserted  a  degree  of  religious  freedom  by  burning  the  bull  of  the 
Pope. 

But  while  the  oppressions  in  the  east  were  preparing  the  good 
seed  to  be  sent  to  the  new  world,  Satan  was  not  idle. 

Those  who  worshipped  money  and  other  material  things,  instead 
of  God  and  his  attributes  of  justice  and  truth,  settled  Jamestown, 
Virginia,  in  1608,  and  soon  after  brought  slavery  with  them.  The 
friends  of  right  were  behind  and  did  not  land  at  Plymouth  until 
December  22d,  1620. 

The  spirit  of  freedom  began  to  gain  power,  so  far  as  the  white  race 
was  concerned,  in  England,  and  the  result  was  the  beheading  of 
Charles  I.,  in  January,  1649. 

Although  the  iron  soul  of  Cromwell  for  a  time  nominally  sustained 
the  rights  of  the  masses,  yet  the  latter  were  not  sufficiently  educated 
to  walk  alone  after  their  leader  was  taken  from  them. 

The  reaction  in  England  again  brought  into  power  the  conserva- 
tives, who  soon  hunted  out  of  the  kingdom  many  of  her  noblest  souls. 

The  last  hope  of  man  now  seemed  centered  upon  the  colonies  of 
America. 

After  more  than  a  hundred  years  of  contest  in  this  wilderness 
with  the  elements  and  in  war,  after  going  through  more  of  hardship 
than  did  the  children  of  Israel  in  Egypt,  finally  a  portion  of  our  peo- 
ple were  aroused  to  assert  some  of  their  God-given  rights. 

The  declaration  of  the  equality  of  all  men,  July  4,  1776,  was  the 
outbirth  of  those  times,  and  makes  an  era  in  the  history  of  the  world, 
which  must  be.  handed  down  to  all  future  generations,  while  man 
shall  deserve  freedom  and  record  history. 

The  great  soul  of  Jefferson  seemed  inspired  for  the  occasion,  and 
he  attempted,  for  the  first  time,  to  build  a  foundation  for  a  nation 
upon  the  laws  of  God,  which  should  deserve  to  be  called  a  Christian 
government. 


CHAPTER  II. 

OUR  DEFIANCE  OF  GOD  AND  HIS  JUSTICE. 

LET  us  consider  how  far  short  we  have  come  from  practically  car- 
rying into  effect  these  great  principles. 

Since  this  country  established  its  separation  from  Great  Britain, 
its  strides  in  material  greatness  and  intelligence  have  been  the  won- 
der of  modern  times. 

General  education  has  been  diffused  among  the  greater  portion  of 
the  white  race. 

The  power  of  invention  has  outrun  the  most  vivid  imagination. 

The  privileged  class  travel  with  ten  times  more  speed  and  comfort 
than  of  old,  and  their  messages  are  sent  on  the  wings  of  lightning. 

In  our  vast  strides  we  have  said :  What  next  can  come?  what 
shall  surprise  us? 

That  next  has  come,  and  God  has  asked  us  if  we  have  obeyed  his 
laws,  and  been  just  to  his  children? 

Jesus  taught  that  God  was  represented  in  every  man.  Hence  the 
saying  : — "  I  was  in  prison  and  ye  came  unto  me."  "  Inasmuch  as 
ye  have  done  it  unto  one  of  the  least  of  these  my  brethren,  ye  have 
done  it  unto  me." 

Every  man  has  the  right  to  educate  himself,  and  perfect  his  soul 
for  a  future  and  eternal  existence. 

Even  Calhoun  admitted  this  doctrine  substantially,  when  he  says : 

"  I  assume  as  an  incontestible  fact,  that  man  is  so  constituted  as 
to  be  a  social  being.  *  *  In  no  other  state  could  he  attain  to 

a  full  development  of  his  moral  and  intellectual  faculties,  or  raise 
himself  in  the  scale  of  being  much  above  the  level  of  the  brute  crea- 
tion." 

Therefore  any  man,  state,  institution  or  nation  which  deprives  the 
poorest,  blackest  or  weakest  man  of  those  God-given  rights,  is  di- 
rectly fighting  against  God  and  his  laws,  and  will  sooner  or  later  find 
it  hard  "  to  kick  against  the  pricks." 

"  For  whatsoever  a  man  soweth,  that  shall  he  also  reap." 

Judged  by  this  standard,  are  we  practicing  Christianity  ? 

We  speak  of  the  whole  nation,  North  and  South.  We  must  as- 
sume our  share  of  guilt  according  to  our  light  and  opportunity. 


12 

Because,  if  those  residing  at  the  North  have  more  light,  so  much 
more  their  responsibility. 

If  we  have  the  ten  talents  and  bury  them,  so  much  the  lower 
must  be  our  fall. 

If  we  are  blessed  with  knowledge  and  wisdom — see  the  evil  and 
proclaim  it  not,  but  hide  our  light  under  a  bushel — so  much  worse 
will  be  our  condition,  and  seven  devils  will  return  in  place  of  our 
one.  Because,  the  greater  the  light,  the  greater  the  condemnation. 

Every  one's  experience  has  taught  him  this. 

Thus,  we  should  not  blame  the  poor  and  ignorant  in  our  midst, 
when  but  few  of  our  educated  lawyers,  savans  and  clergy  speak  the 
truth  boldly,  and  let  their  light  shine  before  the  world. 

If  any  authority  is  needed,  Paul,  on  Mars  Hill,  declared :  "  The 
times  of  this  ignorance  God  winked  at." 

A  practice  that  was  comparatively  a  small  evil  in  one  condition  of 
the  world,  under  greater  light  and  progress  becomes  a  fatal  one, 
which  will  overthrow  a  nation. 

The  same  with  nations  as  with  individuals. 

Tried  by  this  standard,  the  leading  men  of  this  nation  are  edu- 
cated at  least  equal  to  any  that  ever  lived. 

"We  have  the  benefit  of  the  full  light  of  Christianity. 

We  have  the  example  of  that  MAN  who  is  the  light  of  the  world. 

"With  such  knowledge,  we  have  no  cloak  for  our  wickedness. 
Hence  the  time  has  arrived  when  we,  as  a  nation  and  a  people,  must 
choose  between  right  and  wrong — between  God  and  the  devil. 

Paul,  speaking  to  the  learned  men  of  Athens,  says : 

"Because  he  hath  appointed  a  day  in  the  which  he  will  judge 
the  world  in  righteousness  by  that  man  whom  he  hath  ordained." 
(17  Acts.) 

That  day  is  upon  this  nation  now. 

That  day  was  upon  Babylon  long  ago. 

She  was  judged  and  found  wanting. 

That  day  was  upon  Jerusalem  when  she  heard  Jesus,  but  refused 
to  follow  his  precepts  and  practice  truth  and  right. 

What  is  Babylon  now  ?     A  desert. 

What  Jerusalem  ?     A  den  of  thieves. 

It  is  therefore  apparent  that  no  people  can  be  truly  Christian  until 
they  live  up  to  that  standard  which  requires  them  to  do  unto  others 
as  they  would  have  others  do  unto  them. 

We  are  called  upon  to  preach  and  practice  truth.  It  is  our  duty 
to  light  as  well  as  to  love  each  other,  and  deal  justly  by  all. 


13 

Yet  our  own  nation  in  her  greatness,  with  her  commerce  upon 
every  sea,  and  her  name  popular  over  the  world,  with  a  class  of  her 
citizens  rich  as  Croesus,  while  others  are  robbed  of  their  wages,  has 
in  effect  said :  Who  is  God  that  we  should  fear  him  ?  Are  we  not 
rich  ?  Are  we  not  learned  ?  Are  w«lnot  .powerful  ?  Do  we  not  build 
magnificent  churches  and  worship  the  bones  of  the  prophets  ?  There- 
fore we  care  not  for  man,  the  child  of  the  Most  High.  . '" 

Have  we  not  said,  protect  the  rights  of  property  and  sustain  the 
statutes  made  by  us,  even  if  man  is  crushed  ? 

Jesus  taught  that  institutions,  states,  nations,  churches  and  Sab- 
baths were  made  for  man — not  man  for  them. 

Have  we  not  defied  that  teaching,  and  made  property  greater  than 
man  ? 

Let  us  cite  the  case  of  The  People  vs.  Toynbee,  in  the  great  State 
of  New  York,  decided  by  her  highest  court.  (13  2V.  Y.  378.) 

In  that  case  a  white  person  owned  a  black  bottle,  about  twelve 
inches  long  and  three  inches  in  diameter,  filled  with  intoxicating 
liquor,  worth  about  two  dollars,  which  was  seized  by  the  police,  and 
destroyed  by  direction  of  the  magistrate  in  Brooklyn,  in  pursuance 
of  the  statutes  of  New  York.  That  court  declared  the  statute  un- 
constitutional, on  the  ground  it  invaded  the  right  of  the  individual. 

At  this  same  time,  and  daily,  colored  men,  with  the  light  of  divinity 
in  their  faces,  were  dragged  through  the  larger  half  of  our  country 
as  slaves.  Millions  were  in  this  condition.  By  the  power  of  brute 
force  they  were  captured  and  kept  from  the  reach  of  arms  wherewith 
to  defend  themselves. 

They  were  denied  the  privileges  of  education  and  their  other  God- 
given  rights,  and  kept  in  ignorance. 

By  force  and  fraud  they  were  robbed  of  their  earnings,  and  treated 
as  beasts  of  the  field. 

The  idle  man  rioted  upon  their  productions,  in  defiance  of  justice. 

The  least  effort  made  by  the  slave  prisoner,  for  his  liberty  and 
rights,  was  defeated  by  taking  his  life. 

In  short,  the  iniquity  of  the  country  in  sustaining  such  an  insti- 
tution, was  too  monstrous  to  be  described  or  realized. 

Yet  how  few  of  us  saw  the  condition  of  the  poor  slave,  and  fed  him 
when  he  was  an  hungered,  or  clothed  him  when  he  was  naked,  or 
visited  him  in  his  prison  bonds,  or  even  spoke  a  kind  word  in  his 
behalf  in  the  pulpit  or  in  the  forum. 

While  the  highest  court  of  the  great  civilized  State  of  New  York 


14 

in  effect  held  the  possession  of  the  black  bottle  to  be  a  sacred  right, 
the  highest  court  of  this  Christian  nation,  enrobed  at  "Washington, 
decided  that  the  black  man  had  no  rights,  and  the  nation  could  not 
hear  his  cry  for  justice  and  liberty. 

"  Matter  was  made  for  man,  and  not  man  for  matter." 

Yet  we  had  thus  in  our  insolence  exalted  property  above  man,  and 
set  God  and  his  laws  at  defiance. 

The  student  must  have  Tead  history  in  vain,  not  to  see  that  the 
same  general  principles  which  were  applicable  to  ancient  nations,  are 
equally  applicable  to  ours. 

Those  wise  utterances  of  the  ancient  prophets,  who  were  true 
statesmen,  are  equally  applicable  to  this  day  and  nation. 

Let  us  consult  their  teachings,  and  trace  the  result  upon  those 
people  who  refused  to  heed  them. 

Of  Babylon,  the  Almighty,  through  Isaiah,  spake : 

"  I  will  punish  the  world  for  their  evil,  and  the  wicked  for  their 
iniquity  ;  and  I  will  cause  the  arrogancy  of  the  proud  to  cease,  and 
will  lay  low  the  haughtiness  of  the  terrible. 

"I  will  make  man  more  precious  than  fine  gold. 

".And  Babylon,  the  glory  of  kingdoms,  *  *  shall  be  as  when 
God  overthrew  Sodom  and  Gomorrah. 

"  It  shall  never  be  inhabited,  neither  shall  it  be  dwelt  in  from  gen- 
eration to  generation."  (13  Isaiah.) 

But  our  worldly  conservatives  say :  We  are  wiser  than  of  old.  We 
have  our  great  city  of  New  York,  with  a  million  of  inhabitants,  and 
with  ingenuity  to  make  ships  and  weapons  to  conquer  the  world. 
Why  should  we  fear  God,  and  be  compelled  to  do  right  ? 

So  said  the  men  of  Babylon,  only  two  thousand  four  hundred  and 
three  years  ago.  She  far 'exceeded  New  York  in  population,  wealth 
and  power,  and  was  built  upon  a  river  fifteen  hundred  miles  in  length, 
while  our  Hudson  is  less  than  three  hundred. 

But  where  is  Babylon  now  ? 

Exactly  where  New  York  will  be  within  two  hundred  years  from 
this  day,  unless  we  repent  as  a  nation,  and  cease  fighting  against 
God,  and  let  his  children  be  free. 

We  need  go  no  further  back  than  Jamestown,  to  verify  this  pro- 
phecy. Two  hundred  years  since  it  was  a  prosperous  town  upon  the 
banks  of  the  James  river,  teeming  with  commerce  and  slavery. 

Now,  there  is  not  a  building  left,  to  show  where  it  reared  its  proud 
head. 

"  The  greatest  fall  of  man  is  sinning  against  the  light  of  God 
placed  within  his  own  spirit. 


15 

"  To  sin  against  is  to  knowingly  violate. 

"  If  a  man  know  of  a  truth  that  which  his  Father  requireth,  yet 
of  himself  goeth  directly  opposite  thereunto,  great  is  the  fall  of  that 
man." 

All  slave-holders  do  not  necessarily  fall  under  this  condemnation. 
By  education  many  have  been  led  to  believe  that  it  was  right  to 
enslave  persons  of  color.  Many  of  the  noblest  men  and  women  of 
our  times  have  been  slave-holders.  As  individuals  they  could  do 
scarcely  nothing  to  undo  the  heavy  burthens  resting  upon  millions 
of  their  fellows.  The  huge  pyramid  of  error,  ignorance  and  selfish- 
ness upon  them  was  so  vast,  that  nothing  but  the  volcano  of  war 
could  shake  its  foundation. 

Slavery  had  so  debauched  the  nation,  that  freedom  of  speech  at 
the  North  was  in  danger. 

The  doctrine  has  recently  been  announced,  that  those  who  preach 
or  speak  against  slavery,  are  as  wicked  as  those  who  are  guilty  of 
treason. 

In  other  words,  'that  Luther,  Wesley  and  Beecher,  for  preaching 
against  sin  and  agitating  the  world,  are  as  guilty  as  the  murderers, 
pirates  and  robbers  they  denounced.  That  Jefferson  and  Franklin, 
for  writing  against  the  evils  of  slavery,  were  as  wicked  as  the  wrong- 
doers they  described. 

A  nation  which  will  exalt  to  office  men  who  are  thus  perverted, 
can  only  be  purified  by  fire. 


CHAPTER  III.  -;v 

THE  CONSTITUTION  NO  CLOAK  FOR  SLAVERY  :  RECOGNIZING 
SLAVERY  de  facto  DOES  NOT  LEGALIZE  OR  GUARANTEE 
IT. 

SOME,  who  desire  to  find  a  cloak  for  their  wickedness,  try  to  shield 
themselves  under  the  constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  say  that 
in  time  of  peace  the  majority  have  no  power  to  do  right  and  cease 
fighting  against  the  Creator's  laws. 

In  other  words,  that  the  general  government,  created  by  that 
constitution,  has  no  power  "  to  provide  for  the  common  defence  and 
general  welfare  of  the  United  States,"  or  to  prohibit  slavery,  poly- 
gamy, treason,  or  the  establishment  of  an  aristocracy,  or  king,  pro- 
vided they  are  created  by  a  state  or  county,  without  the  aid  of  the 
national  government. 

Such  a  construction  is  a  libel  upon  that  wise  instrument,  and  upon 
the  memory  of  those  sainted  men  who  made  it. 

There  is  no  clause  in  it  upholding  or  sustaining  slavery.  There 
is  no  clause  in  it  authorizing  congress  to  establish  slavery,  horse- 
stealing  or  piracy,  or  anything  else  which  shall  not  be  deemed  for 
the  general  welfare,  and  there  is  no  clause  in  it  which  prevents 
congress  from  establishing  justice  and  securing  the  blessings  of 
liberty. 

Some  suggest  that  slavery  is  right  because  Jesus  did  not  specially 
denounce  it  by  name. 

The  same  argument  would  sanctify  burglary,  because  he  did  not 
specially  mention  that  as  against  the  golden  rule. 

It  is  also  suggested  by  some  that  slavery  is  protected  by  the  con- 
stitution, because  it  existed  when  that  instrument  was  framed. 

Piracy,  murder  and  other  crimes  then  existed,  and  were  expected 
to  linger  with  mankind  for  generations  to  come,  yet  such  facts  then 
existing  is  no  argument  that  the  constitution  meant  to  protect  crime. 

But  recognizing  the  existence  of  slavery  de  facto  does  not  legalize, 
sanction,  or  in  any  manner  guarantee  its  existence. 

In  1772,  the  famous  case  of  Somerset  vs.  Stewart  was  decided  by 
Lord  Mansfield,  in  the  Court  of  King's  Bench,  England.  In  his 


17 

decision  he  held  that  slavery  had  no  legal  existence  in  England.    He 
said  : 

"  So  high  an  act  of  dominion  must  be  recognized  by  the  law  of 
the  country  where  it  is  used.  The  state  of  slavery  is  of  such  a 
nature  that  it  is  incapable  of  being  introduced  on  any  reason,  moral 
or  political,  but  only  by  positive  law.  It  is  so  odious  that  nothing 
can  support  it  but  positive  law."  (HoweFs  State  Trials.} 

Previous  to  this  decision,  slavery  had  existed  in  England  de  facto. 
The  trade  in  men  and  women  had  constituted  an  important  item  of 
commerce.  Laws  had  been  passed  authorizing  their  sale  on  execu- 
tion ;  in  fact  everything  had  been  done,  by  all  the  departments  of 
the  British  government,  to  regulate,  recognize  and  sanction  human 
slavery  that  they  could  do,  short  of  actually  establishing  it  by  posi- 
tivt  law.  In  1697,  8,  9,  10,  William  III.,  chap.  26,  the  parliament 
of  Great  Britain  ha'd  recognized  its  existence,  by  encouraging  the 
slave  trade  as  "  beneficial"  and  "  advantageous"  to  the  kingdom,  and 
spoke  of  the  importation  of  negroes  into  England,  where  they  were 
held  as  slaves.  The  act  itself  was  entitled,  "  An  act  to  settle  the 
trade  to  Africa." 

Again,  in  1749,  the  parliament  of  Great  Britain  passed  "  An  act 
for  extending  and  improving  the  trade  to  Africa,"  commencing  with 
this  preamble : 

"  Whereas  the  trade  to  and  from  Africa  is  very  advantageous  to 
Great  Britain,  and  is  necessary  for  the  supplying  the  plantations  and 
colonies  thereunto  belonging  with  a  sufficient  number  of  negroes  .at 
reasonable  rates,  and  for  that  purpose  the  said  trade  ought  to  be  open 
and  free  to  all  his  majesty's  subjects.  Therefore  be  it  enacted,  &c." 

A  written  constitution  or  statute  is  intended  to  carry  out  the  object 
of  the  makers.  The  framers  of  our  constitution  had  read  the  New 
Testament,  were  in  the  habit  of  praying  for  the  cause  of  justice,  and 
many  of  them  had  signed  the  delaration  of  July  4,  1776.  They 
professed  to  be  Christians,  and  were  endeavoring  to  establish  a 
government  upon  the  Christian  basis,  which  declares  that  we  should 
do  unto  others  as  we  would  that  others  should  do  unto  us. 

Therefore  their  constitution  must  be  interpreted  with  those  great 
principles  as  our  lights. 

Many  cases  can  be  cited,  decided  by  our  most  eminent  jurists, 
holding  that  our  constitution  and  laws  are  to  be  construed  in  the 
light  of  Christianity. 

A  judge  imbued  with  this  spirit  will  thus  construe  that  instrument. 


18 

It  is  claimed  "by  those  taking  an  opposite  view,  that  art.  4,  sec.  2, 
sub.  3,  gives  the  right  to  hold  slaves. 

That  section  is  treating  mainly  of  the  rights  of  individuals,  and 
placing  restrictions  upon  the  states. 

Subdivision  1  says:  "The  citizens  of  each  state  shall  be  entitled 
to  all  the  privileges  and  immunities  of  citizens  in  the  several  states." 

The  Attorney  General  has  recently  decided,  what  the  courts  had 
never  denied  until  recently,  that  a  colored  man  is  a  citizen. 

Subdivision  3,  relied  upon,  does  not  use  the  word  slaves.  It 
merely  says  that  no  person  held  to  service  or  labor,  escaping  into 
another  state,  "  shall,  in  consequence  of  any  law  or  regulation 
therein,  (that  is,  by  any  law  of  such  state,)  be  discharged  from  such 
service  or  labor."  It  does  not  say  that  he  shall  not  be  discharged 
under  a  law  of  congress,  or  that  congress  shall  not  prevent  states 
from  creating  slaves. 

If  congress  prohibits  slavery,  or  if  by  the  martial  law  slavery  has 
ceased  to  exist,  of  course  there  will  be  no  slaves  to  escape,  and  of 
course  none  to  surrender  or  deliver  up. 

"  No  state  shall  make  anything  but  gold  and  silver  coin  a  tender 
in  payment  of  debts."  Yet  congress  is  not  thereby  prohibited  from 
doing  that  act. 

Since  this  was  written,  the  Supreme  Court  of  New  York  have 
decided  this  question  in  the  case  of  Hayne  vs.  Powers.  In  that  case 
the  court  lay  down  this  rule : 

"  To  say,  as  matter  of  judicial  construction,  that  a  limitation  and 
restriction  upon  the  power  of  an  inferior,  by  a  superior,  implies  the 
same  limitation  and  restriction  upon  the  power  of  the  superior,  would 
be  in  the  last  degree  unwarrantable,  without  any  known  rule  of  con- 
struction. The  mere  statement  of  such  a  proposition  is  its  sufficient 
refutation." 

Sub.  2  of  the  same  section  declares:  "A  person  charged  in  any 
state  with  crime,  who  shall  flee  to  another  state,  shall  be  delivered 
up,"  &c. 

It  might  as  well  be  said  that  this  clause  recognizes  crime,  and 
therefore  authorizes  it,  as  to  say  the  other  clause,  sec.  3,  recognizes 
slavery,  and  therefore  authorizes  it. 

Jesus  said  :  "  For  ye  have  the  poor  always  with  you."  As  well 
might  be  claimed  as  recognizing  poverty,  and  hence  if  a  poor  man 
was  like  to  earn  too  much,  if  colored,  he  might  be  robbed  of  three- 


19 

fourths  of  his  earnings,  for  fear  he  would  become  rich,  and  we  might 
have  no  poor  men  left  to  sustain  the  Bible. 

On  the  contrary,  the  constitution  declares  its  object  to  be  "to 
establish  justice  and  secure  the  blessings  of  liberty." 

To  accomplish  that  object,  art.  1,  sec.  8,  sub.  1,  expressly  declares, 
congress  shall  have  power  "to  collect  taxes  <fcc. ;  to  pay  the  debts 
and  provide  for  the  common  defence  and  general  welfare  of  the 
United  States." 

Sub.  17  of  the  same  section  provides  that  congress  shall  also  have 
power  "  to  make  all  laws  which  shall  be  necessary  and  proper  for 
carrying  into  execution  the  foregoing  powers,  and  all  other  powers, 
vested  by  this  constitution  in  the  government  of  the  United  States, 
or  any  department  thereof." 

It  is  plain,  therefore,  that  if  the  general  welfare  requires  us  to 
establish  peace,  and  protect  the  lives  of  our  fellow  citizens,  and  for 
that  purpose  to  prohibit  slavery,  congress  has  full  power  to  do  so. 
Under  the  same  power  the  government  has  bought  Louisiana  and 
Florida.  Under  the  same  implied  power  it  has  built  forts  and  cast 
weapons  of  war.  If  all  these  were  deemed  necessary  for  the  common 
defence  or  general  welfare,  who  shall  say  that  the  extermination  of 
slavery  is  not  equally  so  ? 

The  government  has  as  much  right  to  use  the  public  money  to  pay 
loyal  men  for  slave  property  emancipated,  as  it  would  have  to  pay 
for  the  construction  of  fortifications,  provided  slavery  is  fully  exter- 
minated in  principle  and  power,  so  as  to  leave  the  nation  safe,  and 
make  the  common  defence  complete. 

What  is  for  the  general  welfare  of  mankind,  we  are  aware,  has 
always  been,  to  a  certain  extent,  a  disputed  question,  and  probably 
will  continue  to  be  until  each  man  is  in  the  millennial  condition. 

In  regard  to  all  overt  acts  or  conduct,  government  is  instituted  to 
control  the  actions  of  individuals,  and  its  decision  must  necessarily 
be  final,  so  far  as  human  tribunals  are  concerned.  In  the  language 
of  Calhoun,  "  This  controlling  power,  wherever  vested,  or  by  whom- 
soever exercised,  is  government." 

Each  individual  must  obey  or  be  punished. 

If  human  statutes  or  governments  require  what  the  individual 
conscience  does  not  approve,  he  is  not  bound  to  obey,  but  has  the 
full  right  to  follow  the  higher  law  and  become  a  martyr. 

True,  he  may  lose  his  life,  but  hie  has  saved  his  soul.     He  fears 


20 

not  those  who  kill  the  body,  but  rather  fears  to  fight  against  God 
and  his  own  conscience. 

Therefore,  if  the  government  determine  that  the  general  welfare 
requires  slavery  to  die  in  order  to  secure  the  objects  of  the  consti- 
tution, one  of  which  is  to  "insure  domestic  tranquillity,"  there  is  no 
appeal  from  such  decision  except  to  those  who  have  the  right  of 
suffrage. 

Laws  have  been  passed  at  every  session  since  the  government  was 
organized,  which  could  only  be  sustained  under  that  general  clause, 
or  as  implied  powers,  and  which  are  not  within  any  of  the  other 
specified  grants  of  power. 

As  progress  has  been  made  in  many  things,  so  the  present  day  of 
trial  in  this  nation  has  educated  the  government  to  look  to  its  powers 
and  duties.  In  the  language  of  Judge  Marshall,  in  the  McCullouch 
case,  "  The  question  respecting  the  extent  of  the  powers  actually 
granted  is  perpetually  arising,  and  will  probably  continue  to  arise  as 
long  as  our  system  shall  exist." 

The  important  acts  of  the  last  congress,  which  have  been  passed 
almost  unanimously,  and  are  sustained  by  the  great  majority  of  the 
people,  are  valid  only  upon  the  construction  of  the  constitution  herein 
stated.  Does  not  the  same  power  which  gives  congress  the  right  to 
enact  what  is  called  the  conscription  law,  also  give  the  right  to  pre- 
vent war  and  domestic  insurrections  by  abolishing  slavery  ? 

When  our  constitution  was  framed,  its  makers  were  aware  that  it 
would  not  execute  itself,  that  it  must  be  executed  by  men,  and  that 
its  construction  from  timeto  timewould  be  according  to  the  condition 
of  intelligence  in  the  masses. 

They  were  also  aware  that  man  or  his  institutions  had  not  yet 
arrived  at  perfection.  They  conceded  slavery  was  an  evil,  and  soon 
expected  to  see  a  people  virtuous  enough  to  do  away  with  it. 

That  idea  is  conceded  by  Jefferson  in  his  letter  on  slavery  to 
Edward  Coles,  written  August  25th,  1814,  wherein  he  says  : 

"I  had  always  hoped  that  the  younger  generation,  receiving  their 
early  impressions  after  the  flame  of  liberty  had  been  kindled  in  every 
breast,  and  had  become,  as  it  were,  the  vital  spirit  of  every  Ameri- 
can, that  the  generous  temperament  of  youth,  analogous  to  the  motion 
of  their  blood,  and  above  the  suggestions  of  avarice,  would  have 
sympathized  with  oppression  wherever  found,  and  proved  their  love 
of  liberty  beyond  their  own  share  of  it.  *  *  Yet  the  hour  of 

emancipation  is  advancing  in  the  march  of  time.  It  will  come  ;  and 
whether  brought  on  by  the  generous  energy  of  our  own  minds,  or  by 


21 

the  bloody  process  of  St.  Domingo,     *     *    *    is  a  leaf  of  our  history 
not  yet  turned  over.'1     (Randall's  Life  of  Jefferson,  vol.  3,.^.  644.) 

All  were  aware  it  could  not  long  exist  under  this  government, 
unless  the  constitutional  rights  of  the  white  race  were  invaded  by 
"  abridging  the  freedom  of  speech  or  of  the  press.''' 

The  history  of  the  world  proves  that  great  truths  uttered  by  a 
single  individual  will  revolutionize  the  opinions  of  mankind,  if  they 
have  a  fair  opportunity  for  promulgation. 

Hence,  within  the  past  thirty  years,  the  advocates  of  slavery  have 
changed  their  tactics. 

Conceding  slavery  to  be  a  sin,  they  knew  it  could  not  exist  under 
the  full  light  of  a  free  press  and  free  speech.  Since  that  time,  there- 
fore, they  have  taught  in  their  schools,  presses  and  churches,  that 
slavery  was  right  and  divine.  Whoever  would  not  subscribe  to  that 
doctrine  was  banished  or  killed. 

All  contrary  doctrines  were  excluded  from  the  people. 

Fortunately  for  humanity  this  country  produced  Calhoun,  a  man 
great  and  bold  enough  openly  to  promulgate  those  doctrines.  He 
seemed  to  be  raised  up  by  Providence  for  this  great  work.  He  was 
too  honest  to  be  a  hypocrite,  too  pure  in  his  intentions  to  be  afraid, 
too  great  to  be  despised.  He  was  the  only  man,  North  or  South, 
with  sufficient  power  and  influence  to  unite  the  advocates  of  slavery 
upon  a  platform  broad  enough  to  take  issue  with  justice. 

To  sustain  slavery  in  his  view,  he  denied  it  to  be  a  sin.  To  sus- 
tain that  proposition  he  denied  that  the  colored  person  was  a  man. 

Conceding  such  person  to  be  a  man,  his  whole  argument  falls  to 
the  ground,  and  his  construction  of  the  constitution  gave  congress 
full  power  to  abolish  slavery. 

If  this  great  man  could  not  demonstrate  that  the  general  govern- 
ment had  not  power  over  slavery,  it  would  seem  folly  for  us  to 
doubt  it. 

The  human  race  have  not  yet  reached  the  end  of  knowledge,  and 
have  reasonable  grounds  to  expect  further  progress  in  that  direction. 
When  Fulton  discovered  the  wonderful  powers  of  steam,  and  pro- 
mulgated the  same  to  the  world,  succeeding  generations  did  not 
remain  idle,  but  have  profited  by  his  experience,  and  added  their 
improvements  to  the  great  stock  of  wisdom  for  the  benefit  of  mankind. 

Jesus  preached  his  doctrines  more  than  1,800  years  since,  and  yet 
for  the  first  1,500  years,  and  up  to  the  time  of  Luther,  no  man  was 
permitted  to  enjoy  freedom  in  religious  matters. 


22 

If  the  princes,  potentates,  and  rulers  of  this  world,  in  church  and 
state,  so  falsely  or  ignorantly  construed  Christianity  for  1,500  years, 
is  it  remarkable  that  the  princes  of  slavery  and  selfishness  in  this 
nation  should  have  falsely  construed  the  constitution  for  70  years 
past. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  UNION  REPRESENTS  THE  ONLY  SOVEREIGN  POWER. 

THERE  can  be  but  one  supreme  power.  There  can  be  but  one 
sovereignty  and  but  one  nation  within  the  same  territory. 

That  sovereignty  in  this  nation  is  represented  by  the  general 
government. 

"  This  constitution  and  the  laws  of  the  United  States,  which  shall 
be  made  in  pursuance  thereof,  shall  be  the  SUPREME  LAW  of  the 
land  ;  and  the  judges  in  every  state  shall  be  bound  thereby,  any- 
thing in  the  constitution  or  laws  of  any  state  to  the  contrary  not- 
withstanding." (Art.  6,  sec.  2.) 

That  government  must  construe  its  own  powers. 

If  an  individual  or  state  alleges  that  the  legislative  branch  of 
such  government*  has  overstepped  its  powers,  some  tribunal  must 
decide  that  question.. 

That  tribunal  is  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  estab- 
lished by  the  general  government. 

State  sovereignty  is  an  impossibility  under  the  above  •  clause. 
Hamilton  distinctly  so  stated  in  the  convention,  and  his  view  sub- 
stantially prevailed.  (Secret  Debates,  page  129.) 

The  existence  of  state  powers  or  state  rights,  and  individual 
rights,  is  fully  conceded,  but  it  is  a  misnomer  to  call  a  state  a  sove- 
reign power.  The  people  made  both  governments,  and  they  made 
the  one  supreme  and  sovereign,  and  the  other  inferior  and  subordi- 
nate. The  same  distinction  exists  as  between  the  supreme  court  and 
an  inferior  court  in  all  judicial  systems. 

It  is  true  the  people  did  not  give  full  or  absolute  power  in  all 
matters  to  the  general  government,  neither  did  they  give  such  power 
to  the  state  government. 

Where  the  people  had  not  restrained  themselves  by  the  national 
constitution,  they  were  at  liberty  to  give  the  residue  of  the  govern- 
mental power  to  the  state.  In  no  case  have  the  people  given  all  of 
such  residue  to  any  state  government.  Certain  inalienable  rights  of 
the  individual  are  not  granted  to  any  government  in  this  country. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  many  and  vastly  important  rights  are  left 


24 

to  the  state,  and  by  many  eminent  men  state  sovereignty  has  been 
assented  to,  but  upo~n  examination  it  will  be  found  to  be  as  impossi- 
ble as  two  kings  with  supreme  power  over  the  same  kingdom,  or  two 
generals  commanding  the  same  army,  each  with  supreme  power. 

The  very  proposition  shows  its  own  absurdity.  The  devil  might 
as  well  be  compared  with  the  Almighty,  and  both  declared  to  be 
supreme.  We  might  as  well  confound  truth  with  falsehood,  right 
with  wrong. 

In  mathematics  it  might  as  well  be  asserted  that  a  circle  has  two 
centres. 

Previous  to  July  4,  1776,  these  colonies  made  no  claim  to  sove- 
reign power  or  to  existence  as  a  nation,  or  separate  nations.  The 
sovereign  power  was  then  vested  in  Great  Britain.  When  we  sepa- 
rated from  her  it  was  by  the  joint  act  of  all  the  people  within  the 
colonies. 

We  assumed  the  position  of  an  independent  nation,  not  as  several 
nations.  As  a  unit  we  fought,  succeeded,  made  peace,  and  were 
recognized  among  the  family  of  nations. 

Hamilton,  in  substance,  concedes  this  doctrine.  After  quoting 
the  closing  part  of  the  declaration,  he  says  : 

"  Hence  we  see  that  the  union  and  independence  of  these  states 
are  blended  and  incorporated  in  one  and  the  same  act,  which,  taken 
together,  clearly  imports  that  the  United  States  have,  in  their  ori- 
gin, full  power  to  do  all  acts  and  things  which  independent  states 
may  of  right  do,  or  in  other  words,  full  power  of  sovereignty. "  (2 
Hamilton's  works,  358.) 

In  the  old  articles  of  confederation,  the  experiment  of  a  nation 
with  several  heads  was  tried. 

In  the  second  article  it  was  declared  :  "  Each  state  retains  its 
sovereignty,  freedom,  and  independence." 

Experience  soon  taught  that  we  were  not  one  nation,  and  had  no 
government  by  which  to  prevent  war  and  violence  between  the  seve- 
ral states. 

The  present  constitution  was  adopted  within  a  few  years  after,  by 
which  we  were  united  as  one  nation,  and  in  which  no  such  words 
were  retained ;  but  it  professes  to  be  made  by  "  the  people  of  the 
United  States,"  and  to  be  made  for  "  the  United  States  of  America  " 
as  a  nation,  not  for  "  the  several  states  in  their  sovereign  capacity." 

In  the  language  of  Ch.  Justice  Marshall,  delivering  the  unani- 
mous opinion  of  the  Supreme  Court  in  the  case  of  McCullouch  vs.  The 
State  of  Maryland : 


25 

"  The  government  of  the  Union,  then,  is  emphatically  and  truly  a 
government  of  the  people.  In  form  and  in  substance  it  emanates 
from  them.  Its  powers  granted  by  them,  and  are  to  be  exercised 
directly  on  them  and  for  their  benefit."  (4  Wheat.,  316;  4  Con- 
densed  R.,  466.) 

The  people  being  made  one  nation,  a  government  to  protect  and 
maintain  it  became  a  necessity,  therefore  a  matter  of  divine  ordina- 
tion. 

A  disquisition  on  government  by  Calhoun,  is  probably  the  ablest 
work  ever  written  on  that  subject.  He  there  says : 

"  There  is  no  difficulty  in  forming  government."  "  Necessity  will 
force  it  on  all  communities  in  some  form  or  another." 

"  Constitution  is  the  contrivance  of  man,  while  government  is  of 
divine  ordination.  Man  is  left  to  perfect  what  the  wisdom  of  the 
Infinite  ordained,  as  necessary  to  preserve  the  race." 

"  Governments  must  be  able  to  repel  assaults  from  abroad  as  well 
as  to  repress  violence  and  disorders  within."  (The  works  of  Cal- 
houn,  vol.  1,  p.  8.) 

"  Exigencies  will  occur  in  which  the  entire  powers  and  resources 
of  the  community  will  be  needed  to  defend  its  existence.  When  this 
is  at  stake,  every  other  consideration  must  yield  to  it.  Self-preser- 
vation is  the  supreme  law  as  we'll  with  communities  as  individuals." 
(lb.,  page  10.) 

Applying  these  doctrines  to  the  present  condition  of  affairs,  can  we 
doubt  that  not  only  the  general  welfare  of  the  United  States,  but  its 
self-preservation  as  a  nation,  gives  the  government  full  power  to 
remove  all  institutions  or  obstacles  in  the  way  of  that  object? 

Paley  says  : 

' '  There  necessarily  exists  in  every  government  a  power  from  which 
the  constitution  has  provided  no  appeal ;  absolute,  omnipotent,  un- 
controllable, arbitrary  and  despotic." 

To  show  that  the  people  of  that  generation  had  no  doubt  of  the 
power  of  congress  to  prohibit  slavery,  or  do  anything  else  for  their 
general  welfare,  we  refer  to  the  amendments  to  the  constitution  pro- 
posed at  the  first  session  of  congress  in  1789,  and  soon  after  ratified 
by  the  states. 

"Of  these  amendments,  article  1  provides  : 

"  Congress  shall  make  no  law  respecting  an  establishment  of 
religion  or  prohibiting  the  free  exercise  thereof,  or  abridging  the 
freedom  of  speech  or  of  the  press,  or  the  right  of  the  people  peacea- 
bly to  assemble  and  to  petition  the  government  for  a  redress  of 
grievances." 


26 

This  amendment  was  voted  for  in  congress  by  the  great  men  who 
had  framed  the  constitution,  and  it  was  approved  by  Washington. 
By  adopting  it  they  conceded  that  without  it  congress  had  implied 
power  to  do  the  acts  therein  prohibited.  It  was  foreseen  that  con- 
gress being  the  judge  of  what  was  for  the  general  welfare,  might 
abolish  slavery,  establish  a  church,  or  abridge  the  freedom  of  speech. 

Where  matters  are  thus  left  to  the  legislative  discretion,  it  is  well 
settled  that  the  courts  cannot  review  that  discretion  and  declare 
such  acts  void. 

In  the  language  of  the  court  in  the  case  of  McCullouch  vs.  The 
State  of  Maryland,  above  quoted  : 

"But  where  the  law  is  not  prohibited,  and  is  really  calculated  to 
effect  any  of  the  objects  entrusted  to  the  government,  to  undertake 
here  to  inquire  into  the  degree  of  its  necessity,  would  be  to  pass  the 
line  which  circumscribes  the  judicial  department,  and  to  tread  on 
legislative  ground.  This  court  disclaims  all  pretensions  to  such 
power."  (4  Cond.  R.,  482.) 

Hence  the  necessity  of  this  amendment  taking  away  from  congress 
the  power  and  discretion  of  making  certain  laws,  but  not  taking 
away  the  power  to  prohibit  slavery  and  leaving  congress  the  full 
judge  of  its  own  powers,  where  not  restricted. 

To  show  that  the  matter  was  not  overlooked,  but  was  intended,  by 
referring  to  the  discussions  in  the  convention  called  by  Virginia  to 
ratify  the  constitution,  it  will  be  found  that  Gov.  Randolph  then 
said: 

"  I  hope  there  is  none  here  who,  considering  the  subject  in  the 
calm  light  of  philosophy,  will  make  an  objection  dishonorable  to 
Virginia ;  that  at  the  moment  they  are  securing  the  rights  of  their 
citizens  an  objection  is  started,  that  there  is  a  spark  of  hope  that 
those  unfortunate  men  now  held  in  bondage  may,  by  the  operation 
of  the  general  government,  be  made  free." 

The  above  construction  is  in  effect  given  by  the  supreme  court  in 
the  case  last  cited. 

"  That  this  idea  was  entertained  by  the  framers  of  the  American 
constitution,  is  not  only  to  be  inferred  from  the  nature  of  the  instru- 
ment, but  from  the  language.  Why  else  were  some  of  the  limita- 
tions, found  in  the  ninth  section  of  the  first  article,  introduced  ?  It 
is  also,  in  some  degree,  warranted  by  their  having  omitted  to  use 
any  restrictive  term  which  might  prevent  its  receiving  a  fair  and 
just  interpretation.  In  considering  this  question,  then,  we  must 
never  forget  that  this  is  a  co7istitution  we  are  expounding."  (4 
Cond.  R.,  473.) 


27 

Thomas  Jefferson,  in  his  Notes  on  Virginia,  speaking  of  slavery, 
says  : 

"And  can  the  liberties  of  a  nation  be  thought  secure  when  we 
have  removed  their  only  firm  basis,  a  conviction  in  the  minds  of  the 
people  that  these  liberties  are  the  gift  of  God  ?  That  they  are  not 
to  be  violated  but  with  his  wrath.  Indeed,  I  tremble  for  my  country 
when  I  reflect  that  God  is  just,  and  that  his  justice  cannot  sleep 
forever. 

"But  we  must  wait  with  patience  the  workings  of  an  over-ruling 
Providence,  and  hope  that  that  is  preparing  the  deliverance  of  these 
our  suffering  brethren.  When  the  measure  of  their  tears  shall  be 
full — when  tears  shall  have  involved  heaven  itself  in  darkness, 
doubtless  a  God  of  justice  will  awaken  to  their  distress,  and,  by 
diffusing  a  light  and  liberality  among  their  oppressors,  or  at  length 
by  his  exterminating  thunder,  manifest  his  attention  to  things  of  this 
world,  and  that  they  are  not  left  to  the  guidance  of  blind  fatality." 

The  present  war  is  that  exterminating  thunder  in  the  hands  of 
man,  guided  by  Providence.  •  . 

Did  George  Washington,  while  he  was  helping  to  frame  this  con- 
stitution, understand  that  he  was  throwing  the  sanctions  of  the 
national  government  around  an  institution  which  he  declared  ought 
to  be  abolished,  and  that  his  vote  should  not  be  wanting  for  that 
object  ?  Hear  him  in  his  letter  to  La  Fayette  : 

"  The  benevolence  of  your  heart,  my  dear  Marquis,  is  so  con- 
spicuous on  all  occasions,  that  I  never  wonder  at  fresh  proofs  of  it. 
But  your  late  purchase  of  an  estate  in  the  colony  of  Cayenne,  with  a 
view  of  emancipation,  is  a  generous  and  noble  proof  of  your  humanity. 
Would  to  God  a  like  spirit  might  diffuse  itself  generally  into  the 
minds  of  the  people  of  this  country." 

Again,  to  Robert  Morris  : 

"  There  is  not  a  man  living  who  wishes  more  sincerely  than  I  do 
to  see  some  plan  adopted  for  the  abolition  of  slavery.  But  there  is 
only  one  proper  and  effectual  mode  by  which  it  can  be  accomplished, 
and  that  is  by  legislative  authority ;  and  this,  so  far  as  my  suffrage 
will  go,  shall  not  be  wanting." 

Did  Dr.  Franklin  think  the  constitution  he  had  just  assisted  in 
drafting  had,  by  its  guarantees,  bound  the  federal  government  to 
sanction  and  sustain  that  institution  which  he  was  then  so  earnestly 
praying  them  to  destroy,  and  which  prayer,  in  1790,  was  repeated 
in  these  words  ?  "  that  congress  would  take  measures  'to  secure  the 
blessings  of  liberty'  to  the  people  of  the  United  States,  without  dis- 
tinction of  color." 


Did  he  understand  that  the  national  government  had  no  power 
conferred  upon  them  to  grant  the  prayer  of  his  petition,  and  was  he 
praying  in  mockery  of  their  weakness  ? 

Did  Mr.  Madison  think  he  was  building  an  eternal  wall  of  defence 
around  that  institution,  by  the  guarantees  of  the  constitution,  when 
he  said  "  it  would  be  wrong  to  admit  the  idea  that  there  could  be 
property  in  man."  Was  he  a  man  that  would  impose  upon  the 
national  government  an  obligation  to  sanction,  sustain  and  defend  an 
institution  like  the  one  he  described  in  the  very  first  congress,  under 
the  constitution,  May  13th,  1789 : 

"I  should  venture  to  say  it  is  as  much  for  the  interest  of  Georgia 
and  South  Carolina  (to  abolish  the  slave  trade)  as  of  any  state  in  the 
Union.  Every  addition  they  receive  to  their  number  of  slaves  tends 
to  weaken  them  and  render  them  less  capable  of  self  defence.  In 
case  of  hostilities  with  foreign  nations,  they  will  be  the  means  of 
inviting  attack,  instead  of  repelling  invasion.  It  is  a  necessary  duty 
of  the  general  government  to  protect  every  part  of  the  empire  against 
danger,  as  well  external  as  internal.  Everything,  therefore,  which 
tends  to  increase  this  danger,  though  it  may  be  a  local  affair,  yet,  if 
it  involves  national  expense  or  safety,  it  becomes  a  concern  of  every 
part  of  the  Union,  and  is  a  proper  subject  for  the  consideration  of 
those  charged  with  the  general  administration  of  the  goverment." 

Did  Judge  Wilson  think  the  constitution  of  the  United  States  had, 
by  its  sanctions  and  guarantees,  become  the  bulwark  of  slavery, 
when  he  told  the  people  of  Pennsylvania  "  that  it  had  laid  the  foun- 
dation for  banishing  it  out  of  the  country?" 

Mr.  Calhoun,  in  the  last  speech  he  ever  made,  (March  4th,  1850,) 
in  effect  conceded  this  power  of  congress  to  abolish  slavery,  and  also 
conceded  that  unless  something  was  done  to  convince  the  country 
that  slavery  was  not  a  sin,  that  it  would  be  abolished  by  the  general 
government  throughout  the  states. 

On  the  next  day  Mr.  Foote,  of  Mississippi,  dissented  from  Mr. 
Calhoun,  and  contended  that  the  South  could  hold  their  slaves  in 
defiance  of  the  general  government,  without  any  amendment  of  the 
constitution;  and  Mr.  Calhoun  reiterated  his  assertion,  that  without 
further  guarantees,  "that  unless  there  be  a  provision  in  the  consti- 
tution to  protect  us  against  the  consequences,  the  two  sections  of  this 
Union  willnever  live  in  harmony." 

The  last  administration  approved  a  resolution,  March  2,  1861, 
which  had  been  passed  by  both  houses  of  congress,  saying  no  future 
amendment  should  be  made  to  the  constitution  authorizing  congress 
to  abolish  slavery. 


29 

This  resolution  was  conceived  in  fraud,  and  intended  indirectly 
to  smuggle  into  the  constitution  a  restriction  upon  the  power  of 
congress,  where  none  had  before  existed. 

There  was  no  other  excuse  for  such  an  amendment.  If  congress 
was  already  restrained  in  that  matter,  such  proposed  amendment  was 
wholly  unnecessary ;  and  the  amendment  could  be  annulled  in  the 
future  by  the  same  power  that  made  it. 

Fortunately  the  people  have  not  yet  ratified  that  amendment. 

Our  unworthy  agents  were  willing  to  put  the  yoke  upon  thirty 
millions  of  people,  which  should  attempt  forever  to  hold  the  poor  in 
bondage ;  but  before  the  people  had  time  to  perfect  that  iniquity,  God 
sent  this  war  upon  them  for  their  good,  and  just  in  time  to  save  them. 

By  proposing  that  amendment,  congress  indirectly  admitted  the 
existence  of  such  power,  otherwise  the  amendment  was  unnecessary. 

John  J.  Crittenden  and  nearly  all  the  great  lights  of  slavery 
gave  that  construction  by  voting  for  such  amendment. 

It  is  said  that  a  committee  of  congress,  at  its  first  session,  denied 
such  power,  on  the  petition  of  Dr.  Franklin  and  others,  that  con- 
gress should  step  to  the  very  verge  of  its  constitutional  power  in 
opposition  to  slavery. 

Suppose  they  did,  were  the  committee  wiser  than  Franklin,  Wash- 
ington and  Madison,  who  made  that  constitution  ?  That  committee 
and  other  politicians  ever  since  have  sought  the  votes  of  slave-hold- 
ers, and  hence  have  caused  their  opinions  to  conform  to  the  opinions 
of  those  who  would  continue  them  in  office. 

When  the  occasion  demands  it,  the  eyes  of  the  people  will  be  so 
far  opened  as  to  see  that  power  clearly  given. 

Daniel  Webster,  in  his  celebrated  reply  to  Mr.  Hayne,  January 
26,  1830,  said : 

"  This  government,  from  its  origin  to  the  peace  of  1815,  had  been 
too  much  engrossed  with  various  other  important  concerns  to  be  able 
to  turn  its  thoughts  inward." 

It  may  truly  be  said  that  since  that  time  this  nation  has  been  so 
intent  upon  raising  cotton,  building  railroads,  and  increasing  its 
material  prosperity,  that  it  has  not  found  time  to  be  just  until  war 
had  called  us  to  reflect. 

All  earthly  laws  and  institutions  are  made  by  human  beings,  and 
the  higher  their  development,  the  more  just  will  be  the  laws  they 
will  promulgate. 


CHAPTER  Y. 

SLAVERY  is  WAR. 

WE  have  seen  that  the  day  comes  to  all  nations,  institutions  and 
individuals,  when  they  are  to  be  tried  in  the  light  of  Truth  and  Right. 

When  we  were  in  a  state  of  partial  peace  and  of  material  prosperity, 
we  refused  to  listen  to  God  and  our  consciences.  Ever  since  we 
announced  to  the  world,  July  4,  1776,  the  rights  of  man,  we  have 
failed  practically  to  assert  them.  A  state  of  war  has  existed  here 
ever  since.  A  war  of  the  rich  against  the  poor  black.  What  is 
war  ?  As  denned  by  all  authors,  it  may  be  a  contest  between  nations 
by  force,  or  any  other  state  of  contest  between  large  parties  by  vio- 
lence. 

If  a  single  individual  seizes  another,  and  takes  his  goods  by  force, 
society  calls  it  robbery.  If  he  takes  his  life,  we  call  it  murder. 

If  a  large  number  associate  together,  and  by  force  take  from  others, 
society  calls  it  war.  Therefore  slavery  is  war.  Large  numbers  of 
persons  have  associated,  and  by  force  taken  the  liberty  and  labor  of 
the  poor  and  weak.  That  state  of  war  has  continued  over  seventy 
years,  but  the  African  race,  and  those  having  a  sprinkling  of  their 
blood,  have  until  recently  been  the  only  victims. 

But  as  sure  as  God  reigns,  the  whole'  human  family  are  bound 
together  by  one  invisible  tie,  centring  in  the  Creator,  and  no  wrong 
can  be  inflicted  upon  the  least  of  these  without  affecting  all,  sooner 
or  later. 

<(  Is  true  freedom  but  to  break 

Fetters  for  our  own  dear  sake ; 
And  with  leathern  hearts  forget 

That  we  owe  mankind  a  debt? 
No  !  True  freedom  is  to  share 

All  the  chains  our  brothers  bear, 
And  with  heart  and  hand  to  be 

Earnest  to  make  others  free." 

We  may  flee  into  the  wilderness,  and  the  same  principle  is  there. 
We  may  surround  ourselves  by  high  walls,  and  shut  our  eyes  and 
ears,  but  our  conscience  is  here.  We  may  go  upon  the  mountain- 
top — lo  !  God  is  there. 

As  a  necessary  result,  this  institution  of  slavery  has  now  raised  its 


31 

demon  head,  and  extended  its  war  against  the  white  race  as  well  as 
the  black. 

Mr.  Boyce,  of  South  Carolina,  said  in  1851 : 

"  I  object,  in  strong  terms  as  I  can  do,  to  the  secession  of  South 
Carolina.  Such  is  the  intensity  of  my  conviction  upon  the  subject, 
that  if  secession  should  take  place,  I  shall  consider  the  institution 
of  slavery  doomed,  and  that  the  great  God,  in  our  blindness,  has 
made  us  the  instruments  of  its  destruction." 

England  did  not  secure  the  rights  of  her  people  by  "  Magna 
Charta,"  A.  D.  1214,  until,  in  the  language  of  his  historian,  "  the 
tyrant  John  had  ravaged  the  country  in  a  most  dreadful  manner. 
The  inhabitants  were  tortured,  massacred  and  pillaged,  and  their 
castles,  towns  and  villages  burnt." 

Nothing  else  would  awaken  the  conservative  and  the  down-trodden 
to  assert  their  God-given  rights. 

Slavery  has  already — 

1.  Debauched  most  of  the  public  men  of  the  nation  for  forty  years 
past. 

2.  It  Has  kept  four  millions  of  the  white  race  at  the  South,  in 
ignorance,  wickedness  and  poverty. 

3.  It  has  made  tyrants  of  the  great  majority  of  its  leaders. 

4.  It  has  corrupted  public  opinion  throughout  the  North,  to  an 
extent  to  hinder  the  progress  of  civilization. 

5.  It  has  made  us  a  stumbling  block  in  the  eyes  of  the  liberals  of 
all  Europe. 

6.  It  has  made  us  weak  and  less  respected  in  the  eyes  of  foreign 
governments. 

7.  It  has  deprived  over  three  millions  of  our  fellow  beings  of  free- 
dom, in  defiance  of  God  and  his  laws,  and  in  direct  violation  of  the 
constitution  made  by  us  for  their  protection  as  well  as  ours.     Even 
this  was  not  enough  to  arouse  the  nation;  and  slavery  has, 

8.  Added  a  thousand  millions  to  our  debt,  and  millions  to  our 
taxes. 

9.  It  has  butchered  in  cold  blood  thousands  of  white  persons  re- 
siding within  its  locality,  for  not  raising  the  hand  of  treason. 

10.  It  has  butchered  in  battle  over  one  hundred  thousand  of  our 
sons  and  brothers  who  have  gone  forth  to  fight  for  our  freedom,  and 
left  widows  and  orphans  scattered  over  the  land,  with  sorrows  too 
sacred  to  be  spoken;  and  it  defiantly  intends  to  butcher  more,  unl««s 
we  take  its  life. 


32 

Thus  our  nation  is  being  tried  by  fire  and  blood,  because  nothing 
else  had  or  would  produce  a  state  of  humility  and  justice  in  our 
minds. 

Yet  nothing  else  would  give  us  courage  to  attack  that  profane  and 
wicked  prince  of  slavery,  whose  day  is  come,  and  when  iniquity  shall 
have  an  end. 

**  Thus  saith  the  Lord  Grod  :  Remove  the  diadem,  and  take  off  the 
crown;  exalt  him  that  is  low,  and  abase  him  that  is  high."  "  I  will 
overturn,  overturn,  overturn  it ;  and  it  shall  be  no  more,  until  he 
come  whose  right  it  is,  and  I  will  give  it  to  him." 

Thus  this  nation  is  about  to  remove  the  diadem  from  slavery,  and 
agitation  will  continue  until  that  result  is  attained,  and  our  laws 
shall  be  made  upon  the  principles  of  our  constitution  and  of  right,  and 
our  judges  shall  decide  in  accordance  with  justice.  When  Presidents 
and  other  officers  act  upon  that  principle,  then  he  has  come  who  has 
a  right  to  rule,  and  we  can  truly  be  called  a  Christian  nation. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE  PROCLAMATION  THE  GREAT  EVENT  OF  THE  LAST 
EIGHTEEN  HUNDRED  YEARS. 

LOOKING  at  the  history  of  the  world  in  this  light,  the  PROCLA- 
MATION of  January  1,  1863,  is  the  greatest  event  within  the  last 
eighteen  hundred  years. 

If  our  people  are  sufficiently  educated  by  war,  suffering  and 
mourning,  it  will  be  sustained,  and  for  the  first  time  on  earth  we 
shall  realize  a  government  founded  upon  eternal  principles  of  right, 
where  the  low  are  exalted,  and  all  are  secured  in  the  rights  which 
they  have  inherited  from  their  Creator.  Upon  no  other  foundation 
can  nations  expect  success. 

When  slavery  fired  its  first  gun  upon  the  white  race  on  this  con- 
tinent, April  11,  1861,  this  people  were  not  prepared  to  do  justice 
and  ask  God  to  take  their  side.  On  the  contrary  they  said,  we  care 
not  for  him,  or  for  his  oppressed  children.  We  have  countless  hosts, 
brave  men,  and  will  put  down  the  war  upon  us,  and  leave  it  in  full 
fury  against  the  down-trodden  race. 

When  the  Union  army  was  about  to  cross  the  Potomac  in  May, 
1861,  Gen.  Mansfield,  its  commander,  issued  an  order  that  no  slave 
should  be  permitted  within  its  lines.  That  order  raised  a  direct 
issue  with  the  Almighty,  forgetting  that  "  He  is  present  wherever 
his  child  is  found." 

Like  Sennacherib  of  old — 

' <  The  Assyrian  came  down  like  a  wolf  on  the  fold, 
And  his  cohorts  were  gleaming  in  purple  and  gold; 
And  the  sheen  of  their  spears  was  like  stars  on  the  sea, 
When  the  blue  wave  rolls  nightly  on  deep  Gallilee. 

<e  Like  the  leaves  of  the  forest  when  summer  is  green, 
That  host  with  their  banners  at  sunset  were  seen ; 
Like  the  leaves  of  the  forest  when  autumn  hath  blown, 
That  host  on  the  morrow  lay  withered  and  strown." 

The  true  prophet  expected  the  disaster  at  Manassas,  as  soon  as 
that  order  was  issued.  That  same  commander  afterwards  was  slaugh- 
tered by  slavery  upon  the  field  of  battle. 

3 


34 

Thus  the  nation  has  struggled  on  for  nearly  two  years,  trying  to 
conquer  without  God  on  their  side. 

What  should  we  have  gained  by  crushing,  even  exterminating, 
every  man  enrolled  in  its  army,  as  long  as  slavery,  in  spirit  and 
power,  remained  to  poison  our  institutions  ? 

The  same  as  man  would  gain,  if  he  heaped  up  silver  like  dust,  and 
yet  lost  his  own  soul. 

While  the  country  in  great  part  was  mourning  over  the  last  dis- 
aster at  Fredericksburgh,  in  December,  the  angels  above  saw  it  was 
a  necessity,  and  that  without  it,  the  proclamation  of  January  1st 
would  never  have  been  born. 

It  seemed  like  a  last  dreadful  struggle  to  succeed  without  asking 
the  aid  of  the  God  of  Battles,  by  doing  justice  to  the  oppressed. 

Instead  of  desponding,  the  country  now  has  reason  to  rejoice  and 
be  exceedingly  thankful  for  many  things. 

We  have  a  President  far  above  any  that  the  nation  deserved.  He 
has  obeyed  the  still  small  voice  within  his  conscience,  and  dared  to 
do  right,  although  surrounded  by  the  wicked  of  this  world.  He  can- 
not himself  now  appreciate  the  blessings  which  posterity  will  shower 
upon  him  for  his  sublime  proclamation. 

The  same  spirit  that  has  sustained  slavery  in  this  nation,  has 
hatched  forth  every  other  vice  known  to  man.  Among  others,  it 
has  foisted  into  place  and  power,  the  hypocrite  and  the  selfish  man — 
the  man  who  worships  the  golden  calf,  and  the  slimy  politician. 

The  seat  of  government,  where  so  much  money  and  patronage  are 
dispensed,  necessarily  attracts  the  most  corrupt  of  that  class. 

"  Where  the  body  is,  there  will  the  eagles  be  gathered  together." 

That  this  nation  has  been  so  fortunate  as  to  see  an  honest  man — : 
one  who  loves  truth  and  right — elevated  to  the  head  of  this  govern- 
ment, seems  providential. 

The  representative  is  ordinarily  no  higher  in  character  and  prin- 
ciples than  the  majority  of  the  body  by  whom  he  is  selected.  Hence 
but  few  honest  men  obtain  office. 

They  cannot  consistently  resort  to  those  corruptions  generally 
necessary  to  secure  place. 

Occasionally  some  sudden  turn  of  events  or  unforeseen  emergency 
will  put  forward  a  person  intelligent  and  just  beyond  his  peers  or 
his  constituency. 

Such  a  man  was  placed  at  the  head  of  this  nation,  for  this  great 
trial. 


35 

Like  all  men  chosen  by  Providence  for  great  occasions,  in  his 
youth  he  mingled  with  the  poor,  and  received  his  education  mainly 
from  that  inspiration  which  an  honest  intent  is  sure  to  bring. 

Yet  we  must  remember  that  any  man  standing  alone  is  weak,  and 
may  not  be  able  to  resist,  at  all  times  and  forever,  the  evil  influences 
surrounding  him. 

It  therefore  becomes  every  lover  of  good  order  and  right  to  sus- 
tain him  by  proclaiming  these  truth?  to  the  country. 

We  cannot  have  peace  until  we  are  willing  to  be  just  and  truthful. 

Before  high  heaven  we  declared,  in  1776,  "  that  all  men  are  cre- 
ated equal." 

Upon  our  knees  before  the  Almighty,  with  that  profession  we 
called  for  his  aid,  and  were  answered. 

After  long  success  we  forgot  our  vows,  and  through  Chief  Justice 
Taney  denied  that  we  intended  what  was  then  said. 

In  the  Dred  Scott  decision  he  said : 

"The  general  words  above  quoted  would  seem  to  embrace  the 
whole  human  family,  and  if  they  were  used  in  a  similar  instrument 
at  this  day,  would  be  so  understood.  But  it  is  too  clear  for  dispute, 
that  the  enslaved  African  race  were  not  intended  to  be  included." 

Thus  adding  falsehood  and  hypocrisy  to  our  crimes,  while  robbing 
the  poor  of  their  liberty. 

This  was  said  in  direct  conflict  with  a  previous  decision  of  the 
same  court  in  Gibbons  vs.  Ogden  (9  Wheat  on,  1,  209),  where  it  is 
laid  down  as  the  rule  on  this  point,  that  the  framers  of  the  constitu- 
tion "  must  be  understood  to  have  employed  words  in  their  natural 
sense,  and  to  have  intended  what  they  said  ;  *  *  that  there 

is  no  other  rule,  than  to  consider  the  language  of  the  instrument  * 
*  *  in  connection  with  the  purpose  for  which  it  was  used." 

As  we  have  seen,  the  day  now  has  come  when  we  are  commanded 
to  repent. 

We  are  also  commanded  by  God  to  "  speak  every  man  the  truth 
to  his  neighbor."  (8  Zach.,  16.) 

That  command  is  addressed  to  all.     Can  we  honestly  be  silent  ? 

We  appeal  to  the  clergy — that  class  who  mould  the  education  of 
the  world — to  speak  forth  in  trumpet-tones  in  favor  of  God  and 
human  rights.  "  Cry  aloud  and  spare  not,  and  show  my  people 
their  transgressions." 

We  appeal  to  the  lawyers — that  class  whose  profession  leads  them 
to  advocate  the  right  and  defend  the  helpless — to  speak  forth  on  this 


36 

great  occasion  in  behalf  of  those  who  are  not  allowed  to  speak  for 
themselves. 

"  They  are  slaves  who  fear  to  speak 
For  the  fallen  and  the  weak." 

The  ladies  have  a  great  mission  to  perform.  While  the  men  fight 
the  battles  of  their  country,  the  ladies  have  a  higher  and  holier  mis- 
sion to  perform — that  of  educating  the  country  to  love  justice  and 
do  mercy  to  all  classes  and  races,  until  they  realize  that — 

"  Glod  hath  made  of  one  blood  all  nations  of  men  to  dwell  on  all 
the  face  of  the  earth."  (17  Acts,  26.) 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  NATION,  THROUGH  CONGRESS,  MUST  SETTLE  THIS  QUES- 
TION. 

UPON  congress,  as  the  law-making  power  of  the  nation,  the  great- 
est responsibilities  rest. 

Mighty  questions  will  arise  in  the  history  of  a  people  which  are 
too  great  to  be  settled  by  the  courts. 

In  the  contest  between  Henry  and  Edward,  for  the  crown  of  Eng- 
land, to  suspend  the  civil  war,  Henry,  then  in  possession  of  the 
crown,  proposed  to  leave  the  question  of  the  right  and  title  thereto 
to  the  judges  of  the  King's  Bench.  Edward  readily  consented, 
knowing  he  would  run  no  risk.  If  the  court  decided  in  his  favor  he 
was  satisfied  that  Henry  would  acquiesce.  *  If  they  decided  against 
him,  Edward  intended  to  take  the  crown  by  force,  without  regard  to 
the  decision  of  the  judges. 

Upon  that  case  the  judges  returned  the  celebrated  answer  :  "  That 
they  had  no  jurisdiction  of  the  question;  that  the  nation  only  could 
decide  who  was  the  true  King.*' 

Alexander  Hamilton  seemed  to  have  been  designed  by  Providence 
with  sufficient  foresight  to  shape  this  government  broad  enough  to 
meet  all  emergencies. 

As  early  as  September  3,  1780,  in  a  letter  to  James  Duane,  he 
used  these  prophetic  words,  while  we  were  living  under  the  articles 
of  confederation,  with  no  central  power  to  make  one  nation  : 

"  The  defects  of  our  present  system,  and  the  changes  necessary  to 
save  us  from  ruin.  *  *  *  The  fundamental  defect  is  a  want  of 
power  in  congress."  (Hamilton's  Works,  vol.  1,  p.  150.) 

Seven  years  afterwards,  experience  and  necessity  gave  birth  to 
our  present  constitution,  which  united  us  into  one  nation,  and  gave 
those  additional  powers  to  congress. 

That  constitution  was  adopted  for  all  time,  with  no  right  of  seces- 
sion. 

When  certain  delegates  in  the  convention  of  New  York  were  talk- 
ing about  a  conditional  ratification  to  settle  that  question,  in  July, 
1788,  Madison  wrote  to  Hamilton: 


38 

"  A  conditional  ratification  is  not  valid.     *     *     *     The  constitu- 
tion requires  an  adoption  in  toto  an 


With  that  construction  put  upon  it  in  advance  by  one  of  its  chief 
creators,  it  was  ratified,  and  secession  is  not  countenanced. 

By  frequent  elections  all  necessity  for  revolution  by  force  is 
avoided. 

Through  a  convention,  the  majority  of  the  electors  can  modify  the 
constitution  without  bloodshed  or  commotion. 

Notwithstanding  it  was  foreseen  that  great  emergencies  might 
arise  which  would  call  out  the  full  powers  of  government  to  pre- 
serve us. 

The  supreme  court  have  said  : 

"  This  could  not  be  done  by  confiding  the  choice  of  ?neans  to  such 
narrow  limits  as  not  to  leave  it  in  the  power  of  congress  to  adopt 
any  which  might  be  appropriate,  and  which  were  conducive  to  the 
end.  This  provision  is  made  in  a  constitution  intended  to  endure 
for  ages  to  come,  and  consequently  to  be  adapted  to  the  various  cri- 
ses of  human  affairs."  (4  Cond.  R.,  478.) 

That  crisis  is  upon  this  nation  now.  All  the  nations  in  the  world 
recognize  it. 

Our  supreme  court  have  recently  decided  in  the  case  of  the 
Schooner  Brilliant,  &o.  vs.  The  United  States,  that  the  blockade  is 
valid,  and  among  the  implied  powers  which  the  President  may  exer- 
cise on  such  occasions.  The  court  say  : 

"  They  cannot  ask  a  court  to  affect  a  technical  ignorance  of  the 
existence  of  a  war,  which  all  the  world  acknowledges  to  be  the 
greatest  civil  war  known  in  the  history  of  the  human  race,,  and  thus 
cripple  the  arm  of  the  government  and  paralyze  its  powers  by  subtle 
definitions  and  ingenious  sophisms."  (Am.  Law  Reg.,  vol.  2,  p. 
839.) 

The  last  congress  passed  many  acts  which  will  live  in  history  as 
among  the  wisest  devised  by  man.  Yet  more  remains  to  be  done. 

When  the  cohorts  of  Satan  desire  to  defeat  justice  or  sustain  vice, 
every  one  of  their  votes  are  given  boldly  for  their  cause. 

Would  that  those  in  congress,  who  profess  to  love  freedom  and 
equal  rights,  had  equal  courage  and  would  act  up  to  their  convictions 
of  duty  and  leave  the  consequences  to  God. 

The  rebel  states,  by  their  own  act,  have  voluntarily  repealed,  so 
far  as  within  their  power,  their  birth  and  existence  as  states. 


39 

Congress  could  repeal  the  several  acts  admitting  such  states,  and 
remand  the  same  to  the  condition  of  territories. 

Although  they  would  thereby  lose  their  condition  as  states  in  the 
Union,  yet  the  land  would  remain  under  the  jurisdiction  of  congress, 
upon  which  new  territories  could  be  organized. 

If  any  inhabitants  remain  therein  who  do  not  like  a  republican 
government,  construed  practically  in  favor  of  justice  and  freedom, 
there  is  no  clause  in  the  constitution  forbidding  their  migrating  to  a 
more  congenial  country  and  associations. 

The  magnitude  of  the  questions  now  involved,  shows  that  they  can 
only  be  settled  by  the  majority  of  this  nation.  The  army  alone  can- 
not do  it.  The  South  alone  cannot  do  it.  The  nation  alone  has  the 
power.  • 

We  have  tried  compromises  with  Satan  and  slavery,  but  peace  did 
not  come. 

In  the  language  of  Calhoun,  in  his  last  speech  in  the  senate,  but  a 
few  weeks  before  his  death: 

"Having  now  shown  what  cannot  save  the  Union,  I  return  to  the 
question  :  How  can  the  Union  be  saved  ?  There  is  but  one  way  by 
which  it  can  with  any  certainty,  and  that  is  by  a  full  and  final  settle- 
ment, on  the  principles  of  JUSTICE,  of  all  the  questions  at  issue 
between  the  two  sections." 

"  Such  a  settlement  would  go  to  the  root  of  the  evil  and  remove 
all  cause  of  discontent."  (  Works  of  Calhoun,  vol.  4,  p.  571.) 

"  At  all  events,  the  responsibility  of  saving  the  Union  rests  on  the 
North  and  not  on  the  South.  The  South  cannot  save  it  by  any  act  of 
hers,  and  the  North  may  save  it  without  any  sacrifice  whatever,  unless 
to  do  justice,  and  to  perform  her  duties  under  the  constitution,  should 
be  regarded  by  her  as  a  sacrifice."  (Id.,  572.) 

We  are  aware  that  in  Mr.  Calhoun's  argument  he  assumes  a 
colored  person  is  not  a  man,  and  therefore  has  no  claim  to  justice. 
Correcting  that  fact,  and  conceding  the  African  race  to  belong  to 
the  human  family,  and  Mr.  Calhoun  shows  us  the  only  true  solution 
of  this  crisis. 

The  responsibility  is  upon  the  North.  The  South  is  weak,  and 
they  intentionally  gave  the  general  government  the  power,  and  it 
only  remains  for  the  North  "  to  perform  her  duties  under  the  consti- 
tution," by  declaring  freedom  to  all  men,  and  thus  carry  into  effect 
the  object  of  the  constitution,  "  by  establishing  justice,  securing  the 
blessings  of  liberty,  and  insuring  domestic  tranquillity." 


CHAPTER  .VIII.. 

A  STATE  CANNOT  LEGALLY  MAKE  A  SLAVE. 

IT  is  suggested  by  some  who  desire  the  right,  that  although  the 
proclamation  has  put  an  end  to  slavery  in  South  Carolina,  and  no 
slave  is  'now  held  legally  within  her  borders,  yet  that  South  Carolina 
as  a  state,  after  the  Union  is  restored,  can  establish  slavery,  and 
make  slaves  of  free  men. 

If  a  state  has  such  power,  of  course  it  is  not  restricted  to  color, 
and  it  can  make  slaves  of  such  portions  of  the  white  race  as  the  ma- 
jority, by  physical  force,  shall  determine. 

Any  government,  which  is  not  restricted  by  a  written  constitu- 
tion, and  is  sustained  by  a  majority  of  its  people,  has  the  physical 
power  to  enact  any  law,  no  matter  how  unjust. 

The  true  object  of  government,  as  ordained  by  the  Creator,  is 
simply  to  protect  the  individual  against  wrongs. 

Whenever  each  person  becomes  just,  he  will  be  a  law  unto  him- 
self, and  do  no  wrong  to  his  neighbor.  Then  there  will  be  no  occa- 
sion to  resort  to  government  for  protection. 

The  form  of  government  may  nominally  remain,  but  it  will  become 
obsolete,  and  the  execution  of  active  powers  will  be  no  longer  evoked. 

Until  then,  the  Mosaic  law  is  a  necessity,  and  the  strong  arm  of 
government  will  be  required  to  enable  society  to  exist  and  perfect 
itself. 

As  long  as  governments  are  administered  by  imperfect  beings,  so 
long  will  they  be  liable  to  abuse. 

To  prevent  that  abuse,  the  most  proper  and  reliable  safeguard  is 
the  right  of  suffrage,  and  the  right  to  change  rulers  at  reasonable 
times  by  election,  thus  avoiding  the  necessity  of  a  revolution.  (Works 
of  Calhoun,  vol.  1,  p.  12-14.) 

As  the  majority  would  thereby  have  the  power  to  oppress  the  mi- 
nority, or  weaker  races,  unless  restrained,  a  written  constitution, 
with  guarantees  and  restrictions,  becomes  a  necessity  for  the  protec- 
tion of  the  latter. 

It  is  a  fundamental  principle  of  our  government  that  natural 
rights,  such  as  life,  liberty,  &c.,  are  inalienable  and  supreme,  and 


41 

above  the  authority  of  all  governments ;  that  governments  are  in- 
stitutions of  the  people  for  the  protection  of  these  rights  and  liber- 
ties, and  that  it  is  incompetent  for  them  to  enact  laws  for  their  des- 
truction. Hence  the  presumption  always  is,  in  cases  of  doubtful 
interpretation,  that  the  legislature  intended  to  do  or  require  nothing 
contrary  to  natural  right  and  justice  ;  and  unless  the  language  of  the 
enactment  is  so  clear  and  explicit  that  it  is  impossible  to  avoid  the 
contrary  conclusion,  the  courts  are  bound  so  to  interpret  them  ;  or, 
to  use  the  language  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  in 
the  case  of  United  States  vs.  Fisher  (2  Cranch,  390)  :  "  Where 
rights  are  infringed  ;  where  fundamental  principles  are  overthrown ; 
where  the  general  system  of  the  law  is  departed  from,  the  legislative 
intent  must  be  expressed  with  irresistible  clearness,  to  induce  a  court 
of  justice  to  suppose  a  design  to  effect  such  objects." 
The  proposition  maintained  by  law  writers  is  this  : 

"  No  government  or  authority  whatever  can  do  that  which  is  sub- 
versive of  the  ends  for  which  it  owes  its  existence." 

Puffendorf  says,  "  that  it  is  God  who  imposed  the  law  of  nature 
upon  the  human  race,  and  dictated  the  establishment  of  civil  socie- 
ties to  serve  as  instruments  of  enforcing  these  laws." 

Domat  declares,  "  that  sovereignties  can  have  no  other  rights  but 
such  as  have  in  them  nothing  contrary  to  the  use  which  God  requires 
them  to  make  of  said  power.  The  sovereign  power  can  only  be 
legitimately  exercised  for  the  end  to  be  obtained,  and  that  end  is  the 
protection  and  preservation  of  the  lives,  liberties  and  property  of  the 
citizens,  and  not  for  the  destruction  of  either.  That  the  wise  and 
the  good  and  the  just  is  the  circle  of  the  divine  law, 'within  which 
the  human  sovereignty  must  move  ;  that  the  law  being  the  embodi- 
ment of  all  perfection  and  justice,  its  spirit  as  well  as  its  letter  denies 
the  right  of  man  to  do  an  unjust  act,  or  to  infringe  upon  natural 
right."  (Domat  Pub.  Law,  B.  1.) 

"  The  sovereign  power  can  only  be  called  into  exercise  for  the 
attainment  of  the  great  end  which  that  compact  was  designed  to 
secure,  and  cannot -be  converted  into  an  engine  to  defeat  the  end 
mankind  had  in  view.  When  they  entered  into  their  social  com- 
pact, and  the  moment  this  inviolate  and  sacred  rule  is  departed  from, 
there  is  criminal  abuse  of  power  from  which  no  obligation  to  obedi- 
ence can  arise."  (Vattel,  B.  4,  sees.  45,  46.) 

John  Locke :  "  Though  the  legislature  be  the  supreme  power,  it 
cannot  be  arbitrary  over  the  lives  and  fortunes  of  the  people. 


42 

"  The  legislative  power,  in  the  utmost  bounds  of  it,  is  limited  to 
the  public  good  of  society. 

"  It  is  a  power  that  has  no  other  end  than  the  preservation,  and 
therefore  can  never  have  a  right  to  destroy,  enslave  or  designedly 
impoverish  the  subject.".  (Locke's  Works,  u.5,  cfi.  11,  p.  416.) 

Robert  Hall  takes  the  same  view,  and  denies  the  correctness  of 
the  reasoning  of  Burke  and  others,  who  ascribe  despotic  power  to 
parliament. 

The  doctrine  of  the  omnipotent  power  of  parliament  now  only 
exists  in  theory.  It  was  denied  in  effect  by  William  Pitt  and  Lord 
Thurlow,  in  their  opposition  to  the  bill  annulling  the  East  India 
Company,  in  1783. 

In  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  Mr.  Justice  Chase 
could  not  submit  to  the  omnipotence  of  state  legislation,  or  that  it 
was  absolute  or  without  control,  although  its  authority  should  not 
be  expressly  restrained  by  the  constitution.  He  held  "  that  the 
people  of  the  United  States  enacted  their  government  to  establish 
justice,  to  promote  the  general  welfare,  to  secure  the  blessings  of 
liberty,  and  to  protect  their  persons  and  property  from  violation. 
The  purposes  for  which  men  enter  into  society  determines  the  nature 
of  the  social  compact.  As  they  are  the  foundation  of  legislative 
power,  they  will  determine  the  proper  objects  of  it."  (Colder  vs. 
Bull,  3  Dallas  Rep.,  386.) 

In  Gorham  vs.  Stonington,  (4  Conn.  Rep.,}  Hosmer,  J.,  held:  "If 
there  should  exist  a  case  of  direct  infraction  of  vested  rights,  too 
palpable  to  be  questioned  and  too  unjust  to  be  vindicated,  he  could 
not  avoid  considering  it  a  violation  of  the  social  compact,  and  within 
the  control  of  the  judiciary." 

In  Wilkinson  vs.  Leland,  in  the  U.  S.  Court,  (2  Peters1  Rep., 
654,)  same  doctrine  held  by  Webster  and  sustained  by  the  court. 

In  the  Supreme  Court  of  South  Carolina,  "(1  Bay's  Rep.,  252 — 
Bowman  vs.  Middleton,)  it  set  aside  an  act  of  the  legislature  as 
being  against  common  right,  on  the  ground  that  it  took  away  the  free- 
hold of  one  man  and  vested  it  in  another,  without  any  compensation 
or  any  previous  attempt  to  determine  the  right,  declaring  the  act 
ipso  facto  void. 

Again,  the  same  court  held  that  a  statute  framed  against  common 
right  and  common  reason,  was  so  far  void  as  it  was  calculated  to 
operate  against  those  principles.  But  they  said  the  court  would  not 
do  the  legislature  that  injustice,  to  say  that  such  was  their  intention. 


43 

and  therefore  would  give  it  such  a  construction  as  would  be  consist- 
ent with  the  dictates  of  natural  reason,  .though  such  construction 
might  be  contrary  to  the  letter  of  such  statute. 

It  being  the  well  settled  theory  of  our  government,  as  before  ob- 
served, that  men's  natural  rights  are  the  true  basis  of  all  govern- 
mental power  and  authority,  and  the  inalienability  of  those  rights 
the  limits  of  that  authority,  hence  when  the  American  judge  is  called 
to  sit  in  judgment  upon  an  enactment  of  the  legislature,  it  is  his  first 
business  to  see  that  the  subject  of  enactment  is  within  the  scope  of 
the  constitutional  authority  of  the  legislature.  He  will  then  con- 
strue the  act,  if  possible,  to  mean  nothing  inconsistent  with  the  nat- 
ural and  inalienable  rights  of  man.  But  if  he  finds  the  language  too 
clear  and  explicit  to  admit  of  any  other  construction,  he  will  next 
examine  into  the  constitutional  authority  by  which  such  a  particular 
law  was  enacted  ;  and  if  the  constitution  does  not  in  direct,  positive 
and  unequivocal  terms  thus  authorize  such  legislation,  the  judge  will 
hold  the  law  to  be  unconstitutional  and  void.  But  if,  on  examina- 
tion", he  should  find  an  express,  unequivocal  grant  of  authority  in  any 
state  constitution  to  pass  laws  destructive  of  liberty  and  the  rights 
of  man,  he  would  then  hold  the  grant  void,  for  want  of  authority  in 
the  people  to  make  such  a  grant  ;  for  to  admit  the  right  of  the  people 
to  establish  a  government  destructive  of  the  rights  of  man,  is  to  deny 
the  inalienability  of  those  rights,  which  is  to  deny  the  authority  of 
the  people  to  establish  a  government  in  defence  of  them,  and  thus 
deny  the  source  of  all  governmental  authority,  except  what  proceeds 
from  brute  force. 

"  What  in  principle  constitutes  a  despotism  ?  It  is  where  the  will 
of  an  individual  or  individuals  is  placed  above  the  rights  of  man,  and 
arms  itself  with  power  to  crush  the  individual ;  and  it  matters  not 
in  principle  whether  that  will  originate  in  a  single  individual  or  in 
twenty  millions.  The  will  and  the  power  to  crush  the  individual 
constitutes  the  despotism." 

Fortunately,  our  constitution  of  the  United  States  forbids  any 
state  government  to  execute  despotic  powers. 

In  addition  to  the  well  settled  principles  of  liberty,  before  quoted 
from  common  law  authority,  the  constitution  of  the  United  States 
expressly  prohibits  the  making  of  a  slave.  Article  5  of  the  amend- 
ments expressly  declares  that  "no  person  shall  be  deprived  of  life, 
liberty  or  property,  without  due  process  of  law." 

Due  process  of  law,  ever  since  the  days  of  Magna  Charta,  has  been 


44 

defined  to  mean  a  trial  and  conviction,  in  the  courts  in  the  ordinary 
course  of  the  law,  for  a  wrong  done  or  crime  committed. 

The  legislative  authority,  under  that  constitution,  does  not  even 
extend  to  taking  a  foot  of  land  from  one  person  and  selling  it  to 
another. 

The  New  York  Supreme  Court,  in  Taylor  vs.  Porter,  by  Judge 
Bronson,  held : 

"  That  though  no  constitutional  inhibition  interfered,  the  legisla- 
tive power  did  not  reach  to  such  an  unwarrantable  extent.  That 
neither  life,  liberty  or  property,  except  when  forfeited  by  crime,  or 
when  the  latter  is  taken  for  public  use,  falls  within  the  scope  of  its 
power,  and  that  when  it  steps  beyond  the  bounds  of  its  power,  its  acts, 
like  those  of  the  most  humble  magistrate  in  the  land,  are  utterly 
void."  (4  Hill.) 

While  slavery  existed  de  facto,  it  might  be  argued  that  the  slave 
was  not  deprived  of  liberty,  because  he  never  had  any  to  lose. 

If  that  argument  is  sound  so  far  as  the  border  states  are  concerned, 
it  can  have  no  application  in  those  states  where  the  proclamation  has 
already  made  them  legally  free. 

If  in  defiance  of  the  constitution,  of  right,  and  of  the  laws  of  God, 
the  legislature  of  South  Carolina  can  make  a  single  person  a  slave, 
then,  indeed,  there  is  nothing  to  restrict  it  from  following  the  pre- 
cedent of  Herod,  and  enacting  that  all  male  children,  under  a  cer- 
tain age,  shall  be  slain.  Before  this  war  is  closed,  God  will  so  edu- 
cate this  people  that  they  will,  for  their  own  protection,  see  that  the 
constitution  shall  not  again  be  violated  by  making  a  single  slave 
within  our  borders. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE  NATIONAL  GOVERNMENT  BOUND  TO  PROTECT  EVERY 
PERSON  WITHIN  ITS  BOUNDARIES. 

BUT  conceding  that  such  state  has  no  just  power  or  constitutional 
authority  to  make  a  slave,  it  is  asked  how  the  nation  can  prevent  it  ? 
By  the  same  power  that  the  nation  proposes  to  collect  the  duties  at 
Charleston  and  disperse  the  rebel  armies  at  Richmond.  The  gene- 
ral government  is  bound  to  execute  every  right  guaranteed  by  the 
constitution. 

The  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  have  in  several  instances 
recognized  this  doctrine. 

In  the  case  of  Prigg  vs.  The  Commonwealth  of  Pennsylvania,  the 
court  have  said  : 

"If  the  constitution  guarantees  a  right,  the  natural  inference  cer- 
tainly is,  that  the  national  government  is  clothed  with  appropriate 
authority  and  function  to  enforce  it."  Again:  "  The  fundamental 
principle  applicable  to  all  cases  of  this  sort,  would  seem  to  be  that 
where  the  end  is  required  the  means  are  given  ;  and  where  a  duty  is 
enjoined  the  ability  to  perform  it  is  contemplate  to  exist  on  the  part 
of  the  functionaries  to  whom  it  is  entrusted."  (16  Peters,  615.) 

Again : 

"  The  national  government,  in  the  absence  of  all  positive  provi- 
sions to  the  contrary,  is  bound,  through  its  own  proper  departments, 
legislative,  judicial  and  executive,  as  the  case  may  require,  to  carry 
into  effect  all  the  rights  and  duties  imposed  upon  it  by  the  constitu- 
tion." (76.,  616.) 

And  again : 

"  A  right  implies  a  remedy,  and  where  else  would  the  remedy  be 
deposited  than  where  it  is  deposited  by  the  constitution."  And 
finally  :  "  The  end  being  given,  it  has  been  deemed  a  just  and  neces- 
sary implication  that  the  means  to  accomplish  that  end  are  also 
given  ;  or  in  other  words,  that  the  power  flows  as  a  necessary  conse- 
quence to  accomplish  the  end."  (/£.,  616.) 

"  The  executive  power  shall  be  vested  in  the  President."  (Art. 
2,  sec.  1,  sub.  1.) 

He  is  enjoined  "  to  take  care  that  the  laws  be  faithfully  executed." 
(Art.  2,  sec.  3.) 


46 

That  "power"  is  vested  in  the  executive  department. 

It  is  impossible  to  execute  that  power  unless  congress  bylaw  gives 
him  the  means  to  enforce  it. 

The  means  placed  by  congress  in  the  hands  of  the  executive,  for 
the  last  two  years,  have  been  money  and  white  men. 

So  far  those  means  have  failed  to  accomplish  the  end. 

Congress,  therefore,  have  the  power  expressly  given  to  furnish 
any  and  all  means  necessary,  and  "to  make  all  laws  which  shall  be 
necessary  and  proper  for  carrying  into  execution  all  other  powers 
vested  by  this  constitution  in  the  government  of  the  United  States, 
or  in  any  department  or  officer  thereof."  (Art.  1,  sec.  8,  sub.  17.) 

The  enactments  necessary  to  enable  the  President  to  enforce  the 
laws,  and  preserve  the  Union,  are  those  which  will  free  every  slave, 
and  enroll  all  able  bodied  friends,  without  regard  to  color,  in  the 
armies  of  the  nation. 

The  principles  laid  down  by  Ch.  J.  Marshall,  as  the  unanimous 
opinion  of  the  Supreme  Court,  in  the  case  of  McCulloch  vs.  The  State 
of  Maryland,  fully  sustain  this  doctrine.  (4  Cond.  R.,  473.) 

In  that  case  the  court  say  : 

"  There  is  no  phrase  in  the  constitution  which,  like  the  articles  of 
confederation,  excludes  incidental  or  implied  powers ;  and  which  re- 
quires that  everything  granted  shall  be  expressly  and  minutely  des- 
cribed. 

"A  constitution,  to  contain  an  accurate  detail  of  all  the  subdivi- 
sions of  which  its  great  powers  will  admit,  and  of  all  the  means  by 
which  they  may  be  carried  into  execution,  would  partake  of  the  pro- 
lixity of  a  lee;al  code,  and  could  scarcely  be  embraced  by  the  human 
mind." 

Hamilton,  as  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  in  an  official  letter  to 
President  Washington,  February  23,  1791,  takes  the  same  view: 

"  That  every  power  vested  in  a  government  is  in  its  nature  sove- 
reign, and  includes,  by  force  of  the  term,  a  right  to -employ  all  the 
means  requisite  and  fairly  applicable  to  the  attainment  of  the  ends 
of  such  power,  and  which  are  not  precluded  by  restrictions  and  ex- 
ceptions specified  in  the  constitution,  or  not  immoral,  or  not  contrary 
to  the  essential  ends  of  political  society."  (Vol.  4,  p.  105.) 

Calhoun  concedes  the  same  doctrine  : 

"  None  can  deny  that  the  government  of  the  United  States  has  the 
power  to  acquire  territories,  either  by  war  or  treaty;  but  if  the 
poiver  to  acquire  exists,  it  belongs  to  congress  to  carry  it  into  exe- 
cution." (Works  of  Calhoun,  vol.  4,  p.  564.) 


47 

Yet  no  one  will  pretend  that  there  is  any  express  clause  autho- 
rizing congress  to  acquire  territory.  It  is  an  inherent  power  of  sove- 
reignty. Jefferson  doubted  it.  He  thought  the  general  government 
had  no  more  authority  to  acquire  Louisiana  than  it  had  to  abolish 
slavery. 

The  proclamation  having  been  issued  as  a  war  measure  by  virtue 
of  the  "  power  "  vested  in  the  executive  as  commander-in-chief,  we 
have  seen  that  congress  has  full  authority  to  pass  all  laws  to  carry 
that  power  into  effect. 

The  Supreme  Court  say  upon  that  subject,  at  page  478  of  the  case 
last  cited : 

"  The  subject  is  the  execution  of  those  great  Dowers  on  which  the 
welfare  of  a  nation  essentially  depends." 

Upon  the  expediency  and  necessity  of  that  proclamation,  the  ex- 
ecutive is  the  only  judge.  (4  Cond.  R.,  p,  477.) 

To  enact  laws  to  make  it  effectual,  devolves  upon  congress. 

Proper  for  that  purpose  would  be  a  law  allowing  every  slave  the 
benefit  of  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus,  and  all  other  measures  to  insure 
his  future  freedom. 

Such  laws  could  be  executed  as  soon  as  we  are  ready  to  collect  the 
direct  taxes  in  the  rebellious  territories.  To  aid  in  that  work,  the 
slaves  will  be  more  necessary,  than  was  the  United  States  Bank,  to 
transmit  the  taxes  after  their  collection. 

The  constitution  guarantees  rights  to  each  individual,  as  follows : 

1.  "The  privilege  of  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus  shall  not  be  sus- 
pended," unless  in  rebellion,  &c.     Yet  slavery  has  suspended  it  for 
the  last  fifty  years. 

2.  "  The  citizens  of  each  state  shall  be  entitled  to  all  the  privi- 
leges and  immunities  of  citizens  in  the  several  states." 

O 

Yet  no  citizen  of  a  Northern  state  could  in  the  South  read  the  dec- 
laration of  independence  or  the  Bible  to  the  bondmen,  or  be  allowed 
the  freedom  of  speech  in  the  presence  of  white  men. 

3.  "  The  United  States  shall  protect  each  state  against  domestic 
violence." 

Slavery  says  no.  It  wiil  have  domestic  violence  at  the  expense  of 
the  old  and  the  young. 

4.  "  The  rights  of  the  people  to  be  secure  in  their  persons,  houses, 
papers  and  effects,  against  unreasonable  searches  and  seizures,  shall 
not  be  violated." 

Slavery  says  it  will  seize  without  right  or  warrant. 


48 
/ 

5.  "  No  person  shall  be  deprived  of  life,  liberty  or  property  with- 
out due  process  of  law." 

For  seventy  years  past  slavery  has  said,  we  defy  your  constitution 
and  will  hang  white  men  without  either  process  or  law. 

6.  "In  all  criminal  prosecutions  the  accused  shall  enjoy  the  right 
to  a  speedy  and  public  trial,  by  an  impartial  jury." 

Slavery  says  the  white  man  shall  have  neither,  but  shall  be  hung 
without  trial  or  jury. 

It  is  therefore  evident  the  white  person  can  never  be  secure  in  his 
constitutional  rights  as  long  as  slavery  lives. 

Those  who  desire  to  excuse  vice  say,  why  not  leave  the  slavery 
question  to  Providence  instead  of  the  government  ? 

Why  not  leave  forgery,  slavery,  robbery  and  other  crimes  to  Pro- 
vidence ? 

If  society,  through  the  law  and  by  means  of  government,  has  no 
right  to  protect  the  weaker  race  against  slavery,  it  has  no  right  to 
protect  the  weaker  man  against  the  highwayman. 

It  has  been  suggested  that  the  proclamation  only  frees  the  slave 
during  the  -war,  and  that  after  the  restoration  of  peace  he  may  be 
legally  captured  by  authority  of  the  state  and  returned  to  bondage. 

As  well  might  ships  captured,  condemned  and  sold  be  reclaimed 
after  the  war.  Who  supposes  that  our  officers  and  soldiers  will  be 
held  liable  in  a  state  court,  after  the  war  is  terminated,  in  trespass 
for  property  taken  for  the  army  or  bridges  burned  ?  Title  acquired 
or  divested  by  acts  of  war  is  as  conclusive  as  by  judicial  sales.  This 
is  not  an  open  question. 

The  slave  once  emancipated  legally  remains  so  forever.  Nothing 
but  brute  force  can  re-enslave  him,  and  no  nation  worthy  of  existence 
will  ever  tolerate  it. 

Nothing  could  more  surely  degrade  us  and  sooner  produce  our 
downfall,  unless  we  shall  basely  ask  the  negro  to  fight  for  our  Union 
and  then  leave  him  unprotected  in  the  hands  of  his  tyrant  master, 
without  shielding  him  by  the  constitution  and  laws. 

Every  person  compelled  to  obey  a  government  is  entitled  to  its 
protection. 


CHAPTER  X. 

A  REPUBLICAN  GOVERNMENT,  AS  GUARANTEED  BY  THE 
CONSTITUTION. 

WE  find  in  the  4th  section  of  the  4th  article  of  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States  the  following  guarantee  : 

"  The  United  States  shall  guarantee  to  every  state  in  this  Union 
a  republican  form  of  government,  and  shall  protect  each  of  them 
against  invasion ;  and  on  application  of  the  legislature,  or  of  the 
executive  when  the  legislature  cannot  be  convened,  against  domestic 
violence." 

Here  we  find  a  guarantee  of  a  republican  form  of  government  to 
every  state  in  the  Union. 

This  clause  has  generally  been  understood  to  guarantee  to  every 
state  in  the  Union,  as  such  state,  that  each  of  their  sister  states 
should  sustain  a  republican  form  of  government ;  and  that  it  was  the 
right  of  each  state,  under  the  federal  constitution,  to  demand  that 
the  government  of  every  other  state  in  the  Union  should  be  republi- 
can in  form.  But  this  is  not  the  real  meaning  of  that  clause,  al- 
though the  effect  of  it  will  be  to  secure  to  each  state  a  republican 
form  of  government.  It  has  a  meaning  more  vital  to  the  cause  of 
human  freedom,  and  one  that  bears  more  directly  upon -the  sacred 
immunities  of  the  American  citizen  than  such  a  construction  could 
possibly  give  to  it. 

We  must  again  recur  to  the  question,  who  made  the  constitution 
of  the  United  States  ?  The  answer  is,  the  people.  Who  made  the 
several  guarantees  therein  contained  ?  The  people.  With  whom 
were  they  made  ?  With  one  another ;  each  with  all  and  all  with 
each ;  they  are  the  mutual  guarantees  of  all  and  each.  For  what 
purposes  were  they  made  ?  "  To  establish  justice,  insure  domestic 
tranquillity,  provide  for  the  common  defence,  and  secure  the  bless- 
ings of  liberty  to  themselves  and  their  posterity." 

All  these  guarantees  are  joint  and  several  in  their  character.  Let 
it,  then,  be  constantly  kept  in  mind  that  the  people  of  the  United 
States,  in  their  original  sovereign  capacity  as  individuals,  were  the 
only  parties  to  this  instrument.  That  as  such,  they,  in  the  exercise 

9 


50 

of  their  native  sovereignty,  formed  this  constitution,  and  made  with 
each  other- the  guarantees  therein  contained  for  their  mutual  and 
individual  protection. 

The  great  Hamilton  takes  the  same  view  when  he  says : 

"  The  constitution  is  a  compact  made  between  the  society  at  large 
and  each  individual.  The  society,  therefore,  cannot,  without  breach 
of  faith,  and  injustice,  refuse  to  any  individual  a  single  advantage 
which  he  derived  under  that  compact,  no  more  than  one  man  can 
refuse  to  perform  his  agreement  with  another."  (Hamilton's  Works, 
vol.  2,  p.  322.) 

The  States,  as  such,  were  no  parties  to  that  instrument,  although 
through  the  people  they  were  all  parties  to  it.  To  the  states,  as 
such,  no  guarantees  were  made,  although,  through  the  people  com- 
posing the  states,  all  the  guarantees  were  made  to  them.  Let  these 
things  be  kept  in  mind  in  fixing  the  meaning  and  force  of  this 
guarantee  of  a  republican  form  of  government  to  every  state. 

With  this  view,  we  say  this  guarantee  was  designed  to  be  a  pledge 
of  all  the  people  of  the  Union  to  each  individual ;  that  the  rela- 
tion which  the  state  government  should  ever  bear  to  him  should 
be  that  of  a  republic ;  that  is,  that  its  treatment  of  him  as  a  subject 
of  that  government  should  be  consistent  with  the  principle  that  it 
was  his  government,  as  established  by  his  authority,  for  the  protec- 
tion of  his  natural,  inherent  rights.  We  say  it  was  a  guarantee  to 
the  individual,  not  to  the  state  as  such,  not  to  the  voting  people  as 
such,  nor  to  a  majority  of  them,  but  to  ALL,  whether  enjoying  the 
franchise  of  suffrage  or  not. 

We  repeat,  it  is  not  a  guarantee  to  all  the  states  in  the  Union  that 
each  particular  state  government  shall  be  republican  in  structure ; 
but  it  is  a  guarantee  to  all  the  people  of  each  state  that  their  particu- 
lar state  government  shall  be  of  a  republican  character. 

Is  it  asserted  that  the  intention  of  this  guarantee  is  only  to  secure 
each  state  in  the  Union  against  the  inconvenience  and  danger  of 
allowing  any  other  than  republican  governments  to  be  united  with 
them  ?  We  answer,  if  that  were  their  only  intention  they  signally 
failed  to  express  it.  The  language  used  expresses  no  such  intention. 
Had  they  only  said,  the  United  States  shall  guarantee  that  every 
state  in  this  Union  shall  be  of  a  republican  form  of  government,  such 
an  intention  might  have  been  claimed  with  some  degree  of  propriety  ; 
but  when  they  said,  "  The  United  States  shall  guarantee  to  every 
state  in  this  Union,"  &c.,  it  means  quite  another  thing. 


51 

By  the  language  used,  the  guarantee  of  a  republican  form  of  gov- 
ernment is  either  to  the  sfate,  as  such,  or  to  the  people  composing  the 
state  ;  and  it  is  that  their  particular  form  of  government  shall  be 
republican. 

But  it  was  not  to  the  state,  as  such,  that  the  guarantee  was  made. 
Because  in  the  first  place :  The  states,  as  such,  stood  in  no  need  of 
such  guarantee.  The  people  of  the  state  had  full  power  at  any  time 
to  determine  the  particular  form  of  their  own  government,  whether 
oppressive  or  just,  liberal  or  despotic  j  and  if  they  desired  a  republi- 
can form  of  government,  they  could  have  whichever  they  chose, 
without  any  guarantee  whatever  from  the  national  government. 

It  cannot  be  said  that  the  majority  of  the  people  wished  to  be 
secured  against  their  own  future  volitions,  which  might,  on  failure 
of  their  present  system,  demand  a  different  form  of  government ;  and 
yet  the  doctrine  that  the  guarantee  was  made  to  the  state,  as  such, 
would  imply  that.  No,  it  was  not  the  state,  but  the  individual, 
crushed  and  overwhelmed  by  an  insolent  and  tyrannical  majority,  that 
needed  such  a  guarantee;  and  to  him,  as  a  citizen  of  the  United 
States,  whether  in  the  majority  or  minority,  is  that  guarantee  given, 
to  secure  him  not  only  from  individual  but  also  from  governmental 
oppression. 

And,  in  the  second  place  :  This  guarantee  was  not  made  to  the  state, 
as  such ;  because  if  it  were  so,  should  a  majority  of  the  state  resolve 
to  change  the  form  and  structure  of  their  government,  in  other 
words,  to  annihilate  it  and  establish  another,  that  being  or  subject 
to  whom  the  guarantee  was  made  would  cease  to  exist,  and  there 
would  be  no  one  left  to  receive  the  enforcement  of  it,  unless  by  scire 
facias  the  new  government  should  be  made  a  party  to  the  guarantee, 

And  in  the  third  place  :  The  states,  as  such,  were  not  parties  in 
the  formation  of  the  national  government,  and  therefore  would  not 
be  subjects  of  guarantees  from  the  people  of  the  United  States,  ex- 
cept through  the  people  composing  the  state. 

All  the  ends  sought  to  be  accomplished  by  the  formation  of  the 
national  government  are  better  secured  by  considering  this  guarantee 
as  made  with  all  the  people  of  the  several  states,  securing  to  each 
the  benefit  of  a  republican  form  of  government,  and  pledging  to  them 
the  faith  and  power  of  the  nation  that  their  relation  to  the  state  gov- 
ernment shall  ever  be  that  of  free  citizens,  for  whose  benefit  and  by 
whose  authority,  in  common  with  their  fellow  citizens,  that  govern- 
ment was  established  and  to  be  administered.  By  giving  this  con- 


struction  to  that  clause,  we  not  only  secure  to  each  individual  the 
benefits  of  a  republican  form  of  government,  but  we  secure  the  same 
to  each  state,  and  also  to  all  the  states,  that  every  state  in  the  Union 
shall  possess  a  government  republican  in  form. 

And  this  construction  is  sustained  by  a  decision  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States  ;  they  say  : 

"  If  by  one  mode  of  interpretation  the  right  must  become  shadowy 
and  unsubstantial,  and  without  any  remedial  power  adequate  to  the 
end ;'  and  by  another  mode  it  will  attain  its  just  end  and  secure  its 
manifest  purpose,  it  would  seem,  upon  principles  of  reasoning;  abso- 
lutely irresistible,  that  the  latter  ought  to  prevail." 

The  only  objection  that  can  be  urged  to  this  construction  is,  that 
it  gives  to  all  the  citizens  of.the  United  States  the  benefits  of  a  free 
government,  and  brings  them  all  within  its  absolute  protection. 

Hamilton  says : 

"  The  rights,  too,  of  a  republican  government  are  to  be  modified 
and  regulated  by  the  principles  of  such  a  government.  These  prin- 
ciples dictate  that  no  man  shall  lose  his  rights  without  a  hearing 
and  conviction  before  the  proper  tribunal  ;  that  previous  to  his  dis- 
franchisement,  he  shall  have  the  full  benefit  of  the  laws  to  make  his 
defence."  (Hamilton's  Works,  vol.  2,  p.  320.) 

He  also  uses  this  language  in  the  Federalist,  No.  52 : 

"  The  definition  of  the  right  of  suffrage  is  very  justly  regarded  as 
a  fundamental  article  of  republican  government." 

We  are  aware  that  the  section  of  the  constitution  under  considera- 
tion has  never  been  executed  by  a  general  law  of  congress,  applica- 
ble to  all  of  the  states.  It  has  frequently  been  applied  to  new  states 
when  they  are  admitted,  and  as  a  fundamental  law  such  states  have 
been  forever  prohibited  from  establishing  or  tolerating  slavery. 

The  executive  department  acted  under  it  in  the  case  of  the  Dorr 
rebellion  in  Rhode  Island.  Upon  that  question  Chief  Justice  Taney 
used  this  language  : 

"  It  rested  with  congress,  too,  to  determine  the  means  proper  to 
be  adopted  to  fulfill  this  guarantee."  (Luther  vs.  Borden,  7  How.t 
42.) 

The  Supreme  Court  have  settled  the  same  doctrine  in  the  celebra- 
ted case  of  Prigg  vs.  The  Commonwealth  of  Pennsylvania,  before 
quoted.  In  that  case  it  is  expressly  held  that : 

"  If  the  constitution  guarantees  a  right,  the  natural  inference  cer- 


53 

tainly  is,  that  the  national  government  is  clothed  with  appropriate 
authority  and  protection  to  enforce  it."      (16  Peters,  615.) 

That  decision  was  made  under  the  clause  of  the  constitution  in 
regard  to  fugitives  from  service,  but  in  which  no  express  declared 
powers  were  given  to  the  general  government  on  that  subject. 

True,  many  of  the  friends  of  freedom  put  a  different  construction 
upon  that  clause,  but  they  were  overruled  by  the  great  body  of 
American  statesmen  and  lawyers — by  the  majority  of  the  people,  and 
by  the  unanimous  opinion  of  the  Supreme  Court. 

The  minority  were  compelled  to  submit  or  become  martyrs. 

The  nation  are  therefore  now  estopped  from  denying  the  same 
powers  to  the  general  government,  under  a  clause  of  the  constitution 
substantially  the  same.  The  same  rule  should  be  applied  in  both 
cases,  even  if  the  great  emergency  now  upon  us  shall  verify  the  pre- 
diction of  Randolph  and  secure  entire  freedom  in  America  through 
the  agency  of  the  general  government. 

In  execution  of  section  4,  article  4,  congress  has  power,  by  law, 
to  define  and  declare: 

1.  What  is  a  republican  form  of  government  as  applied  to  each 
state.     It  should  not  be  left  to  the  executive  as  heretofore,  in  the 
case  of  Rhode  Island,  to  decide,  but  should  be  previously  regulated 
and  settled  by  law,  so  that  all  could  understand  their  duties. 

2.  How  a  state  should  be  organized,  giving  the  loyal  people   the 
right  to  legally  and  formally  elect  their  executive  and  two  branches 
of  the  legislature,  even  if  their  existing   officers  should   abdicate,  as 
they  have  recently  done  by  secession.     Thi/ power  was  only  intended 
to  be  exercised  by  congress -in  the  last  resort. 

If  such  power  does  not  exist  in  the  general  government,  then  a 
majority  of  the  state  legislatures,  against  the  wishes  of  three-fourths 
of  the  people,  can  at  any  time  break  up  the  general  government. 
No  such  construction  can  be  tolerated  by  any  government. 

This  view  is  partially  recognized  by  Hamilton  in  the  Federalist, 
No.  59,  where  he  says: 

"  Its  propriety  rests  upon  the  evidence  of  this  plain  proposition, 
that  every  government  ought  to  contain  in  itself  the  means  of  its 
own  preservation." 

The  last  congress,  to  a  certain  extent,  carried  out  this  principle  in 
the  case  of  West  Virginia. 

3.  That  the  electors,  to  choose  the  most  numerous  branch  of  the 


54 

state  legislature,  shall  at  least  include  the  great  majority  of  male 
inhabitants  of  the  proper  age. 

This  principle  is  also  recognized  in  No.  57  of  the  Federalist,  as 
follows : 

"  The  elective  mode  of  obtaining  rulers  is  the  characteristic  policy 
of  republican  government." 

"  The  electors  are  to  be  the  great  body  of  the  people  of  the  Uni- 
ted States." 

We  are  aware  that  many  of  the  framers  of  the  constitution,  and 
even  Hamilton  himself,  did  not  claim  the  power  of  congress  to  extend 
to  defining  the  qualification  of  electors ;  but  wisely  they  used  lan- 
guage which  would  cover  such  power. 

No  man  can  foresee  all  the  great  consequences  which  in  the  future 
may  turn  upon  acts  which  at  the  time  seem  unimportant  to  him. 
Hence  it  frequently  happens  that  their  acts,  writings  or  laws  are 
wiser  than  they  intend. 

Our  constitution  seems  to  have  been  framed  by  an  unseen  wisdom, 
and  experience  has  shown  and  is  now  demonstrating  that  it  is  not  "  a 
covenant  with  hell,"  but  the  charter  of  true  liberty. 

This  doctrine  is  also  clearly  recognized  by  the  Supreme  Court  of 
the  United  States  in  the  case  of  Martin  vs.  Hunter's  Lessees,  reported 
1  Wheat.,  304,  and  also  in  3  Cond.  R.,  550. 

In  that  case  the  court  say : 

"  It  was  foreseen  that  that  would  be  a  perilous  and  difficult,  if  not 
an  impracticable  task.  The  instrument  was  not  intended  merely  to 
provide  for  the  exigencies  of  a  few  years,  but  was  to  endure  through 
a  long  lapse  of  ages,  the  events  of  which  were  locked  up  in  the  in- 
scrutable purposes  of  Providence.  It  could  not  be  foreseen  what 
new  changes  and  modifications  of  power  might  be  made  indispensable 
to  effectuate  the  general  objects  of  the  charter ;  and  restrictions  and 
specifications,  which  at  present  might  seem  salutary,  might  in  the 
end  prove  the  overthrow  of  the  system  itself.  Hence  its  powers  are 
expressed  in  general  terms,  leaving  the  legislature,  from  time  to 
time,  to  adopt  its  own  means  to  effectuate  legitimate  objects,  and  to 
mould  and  remodel  the  exercise  of  its  own  powers  as  its  own  wisdom 
and  the  public  interests  should  require." 

•  4.  That  no  state  law  should  be  enacted  to  take  away  from  any 
person  (of  any  color)  his  right  to  life,  liberty  and  property,  without 
due  process  of  law ;  and  that  each  person  shall  be  entitled  to  the 
benefit  of  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus  to  protect  him  in  his  liberty. 

5.  That  no  state  law  should  be  deemed  republican  or  valid  cre- 
ating slavery.  * 


55 

Any  law  or  state  regulation  in  opposition  to  such  national  laws 
would  be  void,  and  any  individual  injured  could  submit  his  case  to 
the  highest  court  in  the  United  States  to  have  conflicting  laws  con- 
strued. 

.We  are  aware  that  this  power  given  to  the  general  government 
has  never  been  exercised  by  congress,  but  that  is  no  reason  why  it 
should  not  be  when  the  occasion  arises. 

Slavery  and  polygamy  are  fast  forcing  upon  the  nation  questions 
which  will  compel  it  to  assert  its  undoubted  powers  in  that  behalf. 

•We  are  in  the  midst  of  the  greatest  war  known  in  the  history  of 
the  world.  The  field  of  battle  is  located  within  this  favored  nation. 

It  must  necessarily  work  a  great  moral  revolution.  Providence 
has  given  us  the  occasion.  Shall  we  not  grow  strong  and  perfect 
what  it  has  placed  in  our  hands  ? 

If  we  survive  this  struggle  and  perfect  our  freedom  by  ridding 
ourselves  of  slavery,  we  shall  become  the  great  nation  of  the  earth, 
and  our  example  will  guide  all  others. 

War  will  be  known  no  more  among  us.  A  future  war  between 
this  country  and  any  nation  of  Europe  would  be  improbable. 

Our  whole  powers  could  then  be  turned  towards  developing  a 
higher  civilization  and  perfecting  man  for  an  eternal  existence. 

Is  not  such  a  result  worth  our  effort  ? 

We  have  the  aid  of  the  prayers  of  three  millions  of  the  oppressed. 

Shall  not  our  prayers  mingle  with  theirs  and  ascend  to  heaven, 
asking  for  this  great  blessing  ? 


CHAPTER  XI. 

RULES  OF  CONSTRUCTION.    THE  DECLARATION  OF  INDEPEND- 
ENCE ESTOPS  THE  NATION  FROM  CONTINUING  SLAVERY. 

MUCH  is  said  about  early  history  and  cotemporaneous  opinions,  to 
aid  in  construing  the  constitution. 

Mankind  are  entitled  to  the  experience  of  the  past,  and  cannot 
wisely  shut  their  eyes  to  its  teachings.  But  all  wisdom  has  not  de- 
parted with  any  man  or  generation.  If  so,  the  continuation  of  the 
human  race  might  properly  be  suspended. 

It  has  been  said  :  "  Be  ye  therefore  perfect,  even  as  your  Father 
which  is  in  heaven  is  perfect." 

The  eye  of  faith  can  see  in  the  distance  the  time  foretold,  when 
"they  shall  not  build,  and  another  inhabit;  they  shall  not  plant, 
and  another  eat." 

It  would  seem,  therefore,  to  be  true  wisdom  to  consult  all  the 
results  of  the  past,  and  try  to  improve  for  the  future. 

With  this  view,  the  opinions  of  Madison,  Hamilton,  Franklin,  and 
those  other  great  men  who  put  forth  our  constitution,  should  have 
great  weight  in  arriving  at  its  meaning.  We  are  aware  some  of  the 
great  men  of  those  days  did  "not  claim  that  congress  had  full  power 
over  slavery. 

But  it  must  be  remembered  that  they  were  merely  the  opinions  of 
individuals,  and  do  not  estop  the  nation  from  giving  a  broader  or 
deeper  construction,  as  the  exigencies  of  the  case  shall  require. 

Not  so  with  great  fundamental  acts  by  which  a  nation  is  brought 
into  existence.  The  declaration  of  independence  was  such  an  act. 
It  spoke  in  behalf  of  the  people.  They  based  their  authority  upon 
the  equal  common  rights  of  man.  They  claimed  all  their  powers  by 
virtue  of  their  common  humanity,  and  by  that  claim  accorded  to  all 
other  men  the  same  rights  and  powers. 

By  denying  to  the  government  of  Great  Britain  the  rightful  power 
to  violate  these  privileges  in  their  own  persons,  they  denied  to  them- 
selves the  rightful  power  to  violate  them  in  the  persons  of  others ; 
and  by  this  solemn  act  of  theirs,  they  are  forever  estopped  from  set- 
ting up  such  claim. 

The  declaration  of  independence  was  a  solemn  deed  of  acquit- 
tance of  all  rightful  power  to  violate  the  natural  and  inalienable 


57 

rights  of  man,  acknowledged  before  God,  in  the  presence  of  the 
world.  That  deed  of  acquittance  contained  the  following  covenants  : 

1st.  That  "life,  liberty  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness"  are  gifts 
from  God  to  man,  and  therefore  the  natural  and  inalienable  right 
of  all. 

2d.  That  governments  "  derive  all  their  just  powers  from  the  con- 
sent of  the  governed,"  and  are  established  for  the  protection  of  these 
natural  rights. 

3d.  That  when  governments  become  destructive  of  these  ends,  for 
which  they  are  established,  they  act  without  authority,  and  the  peo- 
ple are  at  liberty  to  resist  them  and  throw  them  off. 

4th.  That  when  the  government  evinces  a  design  to  disregard  the 
ends  of  justice,  and  reduce  her  subjects  under  absolute  despotism,  it 
is  their  duty  to  overthrow  such  government  and  establish  new 
guards  for  their  future  security. 

Who  were  they  that  thus  executed  this  great  deed  of  acquittance  ? 
For  and  in  whose  behalf  was  it  thus  executed  ? 

They  were  the  representatives  of  the  thirteen  united  colonies,  in 
general  congress  assembled,  and  they  assumed  to  do  it  in  the  name 
and  by  the  authority  of  the  good  people  of  these  colonies. 

They  were  inspired  by  all  that  was  noble,  great  and  true ;  and  as 
those  venerable  men  sat  in  that  hall,  and  one  by  one  executed  that 
deed  for  freedom,  the  sacred  stillness  of  that  hour  betokened  the 
audience  of  angels. 

Then  they  rose  above  the  mortal,  and  uttered  forth,  the  law  of 
God. 

The  day  on  which  it  was  published  became  an  era  in  the  world's 
history.  There  was  no  battle  fought  or  victory  won  by  force  of  arms  ; 
but  it  was  a  day  made  holy  by  the  advent  of  the  great  doctrines  of 
universal  freedom. 

Thus  we  have  seen  that  the  inalienable  right  of  all  men  to  liberty 
was  proclaimed  by  the  representatives  of  the  thirteen  united  colo- 
nies, in  congress  assembled,  in  the  name  and  by  the  authority  of  the 
good  people  of  thpse  colonies ;  that  the  people  ratified  the  proclama- 
tion in  the  most  earnest  and  solemn  manner,  and  that  by  so  doing 
they  have  denied  to  themselves  the  power  to  trample  upon  the  rights 
and  liberties  of  their  fellow  men. 

According  to  their  views,  there  must  be  a  true  source  of  all  polit- 
ical power,  and  there  must  necessarily  be  a  limit  to  all  political 
power  in  all  just  governments.  This  source  of  power  was  the 


58 

people  ;  the  limit  of  that  power  was  the  inalienability  of  the  right? 
of  man.  Hence  they  repudiated  the  dogma  that  governments  pos- 
sessed absolute  despotic  power,  or  could  possess  any  such  power,  foi 
the  people  had  no  such  power  to  delegate.  Government  could  never 
legitimately  trample  on  the  rights  of  man,  for  the  twofold  reason, 
first,  because  it  could  never  rightfully  acquire  any  such  authority  ; 
and  secondly,  such  action  must  be  destructive  of  the  ends  for  which 
government  was  created,  and  would  reinvest  the  people  with  all  their 
original  authority. 

Let  this,  then,  be  remembered,  in  construing  the  constitution  formed 
by  these  men,  who,  for  themselves  and  the  people  they  represented, 
disclaimed  all  such  authority,  and  we  shall  find  that  no  language 
found  in  that  instrument,  no  force  of  circumstances,  no  historical 
proof — not  even  all  combined — can  make  that  instrument  legally 
sanction  or  guarantee  human  slavery. 

Taking  these  rules,  then,  for  our  guide,  and  we  have  only  to  find 
the  guarantees  of  the  constitution  to  insure  the  protection  of  every 
citizen  in  the  enjoyment  of  his  natural  and  inherent  rights.  For  in 
those  guarantees  we  find  plenary  power  to  enforce  them. 

If  the  constitution  of  the  United  States  was  formed  for  the  pur- 
poses of  establishing  justice  among  its  citizens ;  to  provide  for  the 
common  defence  of  its  citizens ;  to  promote  their  general  welfare ; 
to  secure  to  them  the  blessings  of  liberty ;  and  these  guarantees  were 
made  for  that  end,  then  most  unquestionably  the  federal  government 
has  full  power  to  secure  these  ends  through  the  proper  departments 
thereof.  If  laws  are  to  be  made  to  enforce  these  guarantees,  we  have 
a  national  legislature  to  enact  them  :  if  adjudication  is  to  be  had,  we 
have  a  national  judiciary :  if  they  only  remain  to  be  executed,  we 
have  a  national  executive  clothed  with  the  power  of  the  whole  Union. 
What,  then,  is  or  can  be  necessary  to  secure  to  all  the  full  benefit  of 
these  guarantees  1 

The  only  thing  wanting  for  the  protection  of  every  individual  in 
the  full  enjoyment  of  his  natural  and  constitutional  rights,  is  a  dis- 
position on  the  part  of  the  people  to  enforce  the  guarantees  of  the 
constitution.  Let  them  no  longer  plead  that  they  would  do  it  if 
they  could. 

They  have  the  full  power,  and  if  they  neglect  to  repent  and  do 
justice,  the  great  laws  of  the  Ruler  of  the  Universe  will  sooner  or 
later  bring  them  into  that  condition,  although  it  be  through  mourn- 
ing in  every  household,  after  a  baptism  of  blood. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

THE  PRESENT  AGE  CALLS  TO  A  HIGHER  DUTY. 

UNDER  the  last  administration  the  government  had  so  low  an  ap- 
preciation of  its  powers  or  duties,  that  it  dare  not  defend  its  own 
arsenal,  but  in  Charleston  turned  it  over  to  the  state  for  safe-keeping. 

After  the  inauguration  of  President  Lincoln,  for  some  time  all  was 
doubt  and  uncertainty. 

The  diplomatist  and  conservative  were  disposed  to  lie  down  and 
tamely  submit  to  disunion  and  slavery. 

"All  experience  hath  shown  that  mankind  are  more  disposed  to 
suffer,  while  evils  are  sufferable,  than  to  right  themselves  by  abol- 
ishing the  forms  to  which  they  are  accustomed." 

In  the  same  spirit  the  government  hesitated,  and  the  slumbering 
patriotism  in, the  masses  had  not  been  called -forth,  and  it  was  ex- 
pected that  Fort  Sumter  would  be  evacuated. 

In  this  hour  of  doubt  and  hesitation,  a  private  citizen,  through 
Senator  King,  addressed  the  government,  March  23,  1861,  in  which 
were  the  following  suggestions  : 

"  1st.  It  seems  to  me,  the  evacuation  of  Fort  Sumter  will  be  a 
practical  recognition  of  the  Southern  confederacy.  * 

"  2d.  It  gives  up  the  whole  ground,  and  compels  the  United  States 
'to  take  the  affirmative — declare  war  in  effect — to  regain  a  foothold 
within  the  seven  Southern  states,  whereas  by  standing  fast,  it  com- 
pels the  traitors  to  strike  the  first  blow  against  the  regular  army, 
and  will  thus  turn  the  whole  loyal  sentiment  of  the  country  against 
them. 

"  3d.  If  the  President  does  all  in  his  power  to  reinforce  Major 
Anderson  with  the  .navy  at  hand,  his  duty  is  fulfilled,  and  the  coun- 
try will  sustain  him.  If  he  tamely  evacuates,  the  whole  loyal  senti- 
ment is  weakened,  and  the  Republican  party  will  be  overwhelmed  at 
the  North. 

,  "4th.  What  human  nature  admires  and  demands,  is  courage  and 
truth,  and  whenever  the  man  at  the  helm  shows  the  right  spirit,  he 
will  be  sustained  and  strengthened. 

*'  Let  this  commotion  go  on — the  curse  will  fall  upon  Sodom." 

The  attempt  to  reinforce  Fort  Sumter  followed.  The  first  gun 
of  slavery  produced  upon  the  country  the  desired  effect. 


60 

Yet  the  government  seemed  to  hesitate  about  using  its  powers  to 
coerce  the  rebellious  slave  power. 

It  seemed  to  doubt  its  right  to  order  the  army  across  the  Potomac 
upon  state  territory. 

Fortunately,  the  cession  of  Alexandria  back  to  Virginia,  brought 
the  state  line  near  the  capital. 

When  it  became  apparent  that  the  long  guns  of  the  rebels,  from 
Arlington  Heights,  could  batter  down  the  capital,  the  nation  became 
converted,  and  the  army  "  invaded  the  sacred  soil."  The  Rubicon 


Thus  necessity,  that  great  parent  of  invention,  called  into  exercise 
the  conceded  but  dormant  powers  of  the  executive. 

The  constitution  says :  "  The  privilege  of  the  writ  of  habeas  cor- 
pus shall  not  be  suspended  unless,  when  in  cases  of  rebellion  or  inva- 
sion, the  public  safety  may  require  it." 

Yet  in  defiance  of  that  guarantee,  the  writ  has  been  suspended  for 
over  seventy  years  in  about  half  of  the  United  Stetes,  so  far  as  col- 
ored persons  are  concerned,  and  practically  suspended  so  far  as  white 
men  should  assume  to  plead  their  cause. 

The  same  necessity  will  yet  require  congress  to  pass  a  law  giving 
to  every  person  the  benefit  of  that  writ,  without  regard  to  color. 

Such  right  can  then  be  executed  through  the  national  courts  wher- 
ever any  state  or  tyrant  shall,  without  due  process  of  law,  assume  to 
hold"  in  bondage  any  person  not  convicted  of  crime. 

No  resolution  of  congress,  or  platform  of  any  party,  of  a  negative 
character,  can  become  authority  upon  matters  of  construction. 

Until  congress  acts  affirmatively,  and  enacts  the  proper  laws  to  per- 
fect freedom,  the  direct  question  cannot  be  decided  by  the  judiciary. 

When  those  acts  are  passed,  and  any  state  or  individual  shall 
question  them,  then,  and  not  till  then,  is  the  Supreme  Court  made 
the  arbiter  between  the  two. 

In  the  language  of  Webster,  in  his  reply  to  Hayne  : 

"  Having  constituted  a  government  and  declared  its  powers,  the 
people  have  further  said,  that  since  somebody  must  decide  on  the 
extent  of  these  powers,  the  government  shall  itself  decide,  subject, 
always,  like  other  popular  governments,  to  its  Tesr>onsibility  to  the* 
people." 

If,  therefore,  the  Supreme  Court  shall  not  decide  what  honest  men 
think  to  be  right;  shall  not  carry  out  the  object  of  the  constitution 
as  it  is,  "to  secure  the  blessings'of  liberty,"  we  have  no  remedy 


61 

until  that  court  shall  be  converted,  or  its  members  changed,  when  it 
will  decide  according  to  the  spirit  of  the  age. 

The  horrors  of  war  and  the  manifestations  of  divine  wrath  are  fast 
working  such  conversion. 

When  that  conversion  takes  place,  and  the  constitution  "  as  it  was" 
shall  be  truly  interpreted  "  as  it  is"  in  the  spirit  of  justice  and 
Christianity,  instead  of  being,  as  heretofore,  the  fortress  of  slavery, 
the  Supreme  Court  will  then  indeed  become  the  bulwark  of  FREE- 
DOM. The  habeas  corpus,  now  sighed  after  by  traitors,  will  then 
become  to  the  oppressed  the  angel  of  deliverance. 

All  popular  governments  will  necessarily  be  interpreted  to  carry 
out  the  views  of  the  majority,  having  the  controlling  influence.  Hence 
the  conversion  of  the  people  to  a  higher  sense  of  justice  will  call  for 
a  more  just  administration  of  the  government  in  all  of  its  branches. 

To  awaken  a  true  sense  of  freedom  and  justice  in  the  minds  of  the 
masses,  seems  to  require  great'  sacrifices  and  atonements.  Such  we 
have  had,  and  many  more  are  in  store  for  us,  until  we  heed  them. 

Within  a  few  months  past,  the  rebel  authorities  seized  upwards  of 
twenty  colored  persons  upon  a  steamboat  in  Tennessee,  who  were 
innocent  of  all  crime — who  were  not  engaged  in  the  war — and,  without 
trial,  cause  or  provocation,  took  them  into  the  field,  in  the  presence 
of  the  civilized  world  and  before  high  heaven,  openly,  in  the  day 
time,  butchered  them  in  cold  blood  as  a  sacrifice  to  the  demon  of 
slavery. 

When  an  act  of  this  kind  is  committed  upon  a  single  individual, 
it  is  usually  done  clandestinely,  and  the  perpetrator  is  so  abhorred 
that  he  is  taken  from  among  men  as  unfit  to  live. 

Yet  the  perpetrators  of  this  act  are  open,  and  assume  to  do  the 
crime  in  the  name  of  the  intelligence  and  organized  leaders  of  slavery. 

Such  an  act  has  not  its  equal  among  the  savages. 

Such  an  act  in  Asia  or  Africa  would  startle  the  world. 

Even  a  single  sacrifice  of  a  human  being,  to  conform  to  a  bigoted 
religion,  makes  humanity  shudder  ;  while  here,  we  have  twenty  sac- 
rificed upon  the  shrine  of  slavery,  and  the  country  has  hardly  heard, 
much  less  condemned  it. 

The  blood  of  those  innocent  martyrs  has  mingled  with  the  waters 
of  the  rivers  and  of  the  ocean,  and  is  crying  to  be  avenged.  Shall 
we  shut  our  ears  and  close  our  hearts  longer  against  their  wailino-s  ? 

When  Governor  Wise,  the  Pontius  Pilate  of  Virginia,  hung  John 


,3 

62 

Brown,  instead  of  thereby  extinguishing  the  flames  of  freedom,  it 
only  made  them  blaze  the  brighter. 

So,  adding  these  children  of  color  to  the  list  of  unnamed  martyrs, 
will  not  retard  the  downfall  of  the  prince  of  evil. 

Of  what  avail  is  our  fighting  ?  Of  what  avail  is  our  teaching  ?  Of 
what  avail  is  our  preaching  and  fasting,  until  we  have  become  doers 
of  the  word  ?  The  Almighty,  by  his  prophet  Isaiah,  has  said  to  us : 

"  Is  not  this  the  fast  that  I  have  chosen  to  loose  the  bands  of  wick- 
edness, to  undo  the  heavy  burdens,  and  to  let  the  oppressed  go  free, 
and  that  ye  break  every  yoke  ?" 

"Then  shall  thy  light  break  forth  as  the  morning,  and  thine 
health  shall  spring  forth  speedily,  and  thy  righteousness  shall  go 
before  thee  ;  the  glory  of  the  Lord  shall  be  thy  rearward." 

With  such  principles  as  our  guide,  and  the  power  of  God  to  pro- 
tect our  armies,  they  will  indeed  be  invincible. 

Abraham  Lincoln,  called  under  G6d  by  the  American  people  to 
the  highest  worldly  position,  has  officially  obeyed  that  command. 

Shall  we  hesitate  and  let  all  be  lost  ?  or  shall  we  act  and  receive 
the  reward  ? 

If  we  now  fall  short  of  securing  entire  freedom  on  this  continent, 
a  reaction  will  take  place  here,  as  it  did  upon  the  restoration  of 
Charles  II.  in  England,  when  the  friends  of  humanity  were  hunted 
from  that  nation.  Then  we  should  see  our  brave  and  true  men 
driven  from  this  country  to  find  an  asylum — where  ? 

The  hope  of  the  down-trodden  of  Europe  and  the  rest  of  the  world 
would  be  put  back  for  centuries.  But  humanity  will  not  fail.  As 
sure  as  God  reigns,  right  will  finally  triumph. 

f '  Earth  is  waking,  day  is  breaking, 
Darkness  from  the  hills  has  flown ; 
Pale  with  terror,  trembling  error 
Flies  forever  from  her  throme. 
Then  to  labor,  friend  and  neighbor, 
With  thy  souPs  resistless  might; 
Never  fear  thee,  God  is  near  thee, 
He  doth  ever  bless  the  right." 


